Itachi's Shadow
by pinkrose064
Summary: Slight AU; while leaving Konoha on the night of the massacre, Itachi finds himself saving a young girl, whose life has been targeted by Root. Koharu is blind, but the abilities of her Kekkei Genkai caused Danzo to view her as a threat. Having promised her father that he'd take care of her, Itachi is now responsible for the child, and must bring her with him into the Akatsuki.
1. Prologue

"Tonight is Juugoya, Koharu."

"Ah?" A six-month-old baby girl babbled in confusion at her father's words. The man smiled warmly at his daughter, even though she couldn't see him.

"Maybe I should let you try some purple sweet potato tonight." He said as he lightly tapped her tiny mouth with his index finger. The baby girl cooed and grabbed ahold of the digit before sucking on it. He smiled and looked back up at the sky. "Kushina-sensei should be in labor by now. A baby boy, blessed by the harvest moon..."

Suddenly a strong breeze blew, carrying an ominous feeling through the air with it, along with the smell of a wild animal. Koharu released her father's index finger and began to cry in terror. The young man held his child close to him in an attempt to comfort her.

_'What is this feeling?'_ Mayonaka Shinji worried as he rocked his daughter. Suddenly he sensed a chakra that he immediately recognized. _'The kyuubi!'_

Without a moment's hesitation, he turned and stood up, jumping onto the roof of his small house and then to the street beyond it, and not a moment too soon. It was mere seconds later that the house was smashed to pieces by a massive fox with nine tails.

Konohagakure quickly erupted into chaos as the Kyuubi began wreaking havoc. Shinji ran as quickly as he could, deftly dodging left and right to avoid danger, his daughter still wailing pitifully in his arms.

"All civilians, evacuate to the southeast shelter!" He heard someone call.

The southeast shelter... that was located in the Stone Faces, but...

Taking shelter for a brief moment, Shinji infused his chakra and directed his gaze toward the region where the Kyuubi was. There! A sinister chakra in the same area as the Kyuubi. Shinjiro's eyes widened in shock. He recognized this chakra! But if that person were behind this...

He looked down at Koharu, who was still crying pitifully in his arms. He had no other choice. He changed directions and ran toward the neighborhood of the Uchiha Clan. He arrived just in time to witness five-year-old Uchiha Itachi smashing a boulder into pebbles by combining taijutsu and chakra control as the boy's mother watched in utter shock, her younger son Sasuke in her arms.

"Mikoto-san!" Shinji called as he rushed toward them while Itachi landed lightly on his feet.

Uchiha Mikoto's eyes widened in recognition. "You're..."

"I'm sorry to trouble you, but please! Take Koharu to safety!" Shinji pleaded, abruptly shoving his daughter into Itachi's arms since Mikoto was already holding her own child. "And don't go to the southeast shelter! The enemy will expect that!"

"Enemy...?" Mikoto repeated in confusion.

"We're being attacked by a rogue ninja. One who used to reside in Konoha. Take the children anywhere _but_ the southeast shelter. The Uchiha have some sort of underground storage room or something, right? Take them there." Shinji explained as he turned to leave.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Mikoto called with concern.

"I have to go help Yondaime!" The young man answered before leaping away.

"Okaasan." Itachi said as he looked up at his mother, the frightened Koharu clinging to his shirt. His questioning look told her that he wanted to know where to go.

Mikoto looked bewildered and bit her lip, but then quickly made up her mind. "Let's go to Nakano Shrine." She told Itachi, turning and running south, but heading toward the southwest corner of the village instead of the southeast. "Mayonaka Shinji's sensory abilities are second to none. If he says that it's safer there, then that's where we'll go."

Itachi nodded in confirmation and ran alongside his mother. Mikoto had now activated her Sharingan to avoid needing to be saved by Itachi a second time. Koharu was still wailing in terror, along with Sasuke, although for slightly different reasons. Sasuke was crying because, in addition to the overwhelming stimulation of the chaos, he could sense his mother's apprehension as she carried him in her arms. For Koharu, it was different. She couldn't see what was happening, though she could hear the sounds. However, more than anything, she _felt_ all of those around her. Pain, fear, grief... all of these emotions were mixing and swirling together. And then there was Itachi. Whatever calm facade he might've been displaying on the outside, Koharu couldn't see it, but she could feel his innermost emotions. Anxiety, dread, heartbreak. As Itachi assured his mother that he was fine when she noticed that something was off about her oldest child, Koharu knew that the boy holding her was anything _but_ fine. And thus, she continued to cry pitifully.

病

Sometime later, Uchiha Fugaku watched with concern as civilians filed out of the Southeast Shelter when the attack was over. Where were his wife and children?

"Fugaku-san!" Upon hearing his name, the chief of police turned to see Mayonaka Shinji running up to him with a newborn baby in his arms. He opened his mouth to ask the man what he needed, but Shinji beat him to it. "You won't find them here." The younger man said as he shifted the newborn he was carrying. "I asked your wife to look after Koharu and advised her to take shelter elsewhere. If wasn't for Lord Fourth's Hiraishin, the shelter would've been hit by a bijuudama."

Fugaku blinked in confusion, "You anticipated that the Kyuubi would aim for the Stone Faces?"

Shinji's expression turned slightly awkward as he replied, "I had a greater awareness of the situation than most. Anyway, it seems they've taken shelter underground in the southwest corner of the village. I'm sorry to ask, but could your family look after Koharu for tonight? I'm needed at the hospital."

Fugaku nodded in confirmation. Shinji's request was completely understandable. The matter of the newborn he was carrying aside, the hospital was going to need all hands on deck after this disaster, and very few iryouninja had the necessary skill to use the Mystic Palm technique. The village couldn't afford to be without a man of Shinji's talents at this hour—especially since he was the new head of the medical corps—which naturally meant that somebody else would have to watch his infant daughter, being as her mother had died in childbirth.

病

As he had expected based on Shinji's description, Fugaku found his family hiding in the room beneath Nakano Shrine. Sasuke had settled down by this point and was asleep in Mikoto's arms. Koharu had quietly nestled herself against Itachi's chest, and by all appearances, seemed to be asleep as well. When she saw her husband, Mikoto came forward and kissed him gently before Itachi stood up and walked over with Koharu.

"You must be tired." Fugaku said to his older son. "Let's get home, assuming it's there, so you can go to bed."

Itachi nodded silently.

"Where's Shinji?" Mikoto asked.

"He's fine, but the hospital needs him right now." Fugaku answered, "He asked that we look after Koharu until he's done." Mikoto nodded in understanding. At that moment, Koharu whimpered, dispelling any thoughts that she might be asleep. Itachi looked slightly confused as she opened and closed her mouth, but then they all heard her stomach growling rather loudly.

"I think she's hungry." Itachi said bluntly.

"Shinji must not have had time to give her dinner." Mikoto sighed, "We'll have to find some baby food for her. Poor little thing. She can't see, and she isn't old enough to talk yet... It must be hard for her to interact with people."

"Why can't she see?" Itachi asked curiously.

"I don't know the specifics, but... something went wrong when Koharu-chan was born." Mikoto explained, "That's why her mother didn't survive the birth."

Itachi seemed thoughtful as he stepped out into the moonlight and observed Koharu's midnight blue hair, which was the same as her father's. Come to think of it, he didn't know anyone else in the village who had hair like this, or with the last name of Mayonaka. "Kaasan," The young boy began, "Where did Shinji-san and Koharu-chan come from?"

"Huh?" Mikoto blinked as she looked at Itachi. It wasn't that his question surprised her so much as the fact that he was asking right now. She smiled softly at him, "That's right... you were only a baby yourself when I think about it." Itachi looked up at her with his usual blank yet inquisitive expression. "Four or five years ago, a little before the war started, Lord Fourth went on a mission to the city of Roran in the Land of Wind to stop a puppet master from taking control of the Lei Line. Afterwards, Shinji came to him and asked to be allowed to accompany Lord Fourth and his team back to Konoha. The Mayonaka Clan that Shinji comes from had been the ones that requested the mission. They had formerly been the city's military, but when the puppet master managed to gain the young queen's confidence, he targeted their clan and forced them to retreat into the shadows to survive. Shinji was worried that if everyone in his clan remained in Roran, the clan would eventually be destroyed, so he asked to come to Konoha to have a better chance at preserving his bloodline. The Mayonaka Clan apparently has ties to the Yamanaka Clan, the Hyuuga Clan, and the Uzumaki Clan, so this was a good place for him. And coming here was probably the right choice. Roran ended up being destroyed during the war, and it's unknown if there are any survivors of the Mayonaka besides himself and Koharu-chan at this point."

Itachi looked down thoughtfully at the baby in his arms. "So that's why..." He knew that his own clan was small, but to be reduced to only a father and child? He couldn't imagine it.

Well, at that time he couldn't, but within the next several years, he would come to understand what it meant to be feared for having too much power, both for a clan... and for an individual.

病

Following the tragedy of the Kyuubi Incident, Shinji became the guardian of the Fourth Hokage's son, Naruto, who had been born that same night. This had been Minato and Kushina's wish, both because of their close friendship with Shinji and because the young man was the only person skilled enough in fuinjutsu to ensure that Naruto's seal did not loosen over time. Contrary to many of the villagers, who blamed little Naruto for the incident, Shinji treated Naruto as his own son and Naruto and Koharu grew up together as siblings.

Koharu had her own struggles within the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Shortly after Naruto's birth, she awakened her clan's visual prowess, the Shinjitsugan, at an unprecedented age. Her father theorized that this was because, to a point, the Shinjitsugan allowed her to compensate for her blindness by bypassing her optic nerves and feeding sensory information directly to her brain. At first, this wasn't an issue. However, the more skilled that Koharu grew in conversation, the more her troubles increased. The Shinjitsugan endowed its users with a natural inclination to expose the truth, and as a toddler, the little girl would often say things that others wished to remain unsaid. Small children have no filter, and Koharu had not yet developed the ability to sense when somebody didn't want a particular truth to be spoken. As a result, she would often blurt out the reality of the situation, creating friction between comrades. Her ability to know what other people were feeling led the adults to think that Koharu could read their minds, which wasn't quite accurate, but it unnerved them nonetheless, and the fact that she had no way of knowing when members of the ANBU were on duty was not particularly helpful either. Despite that, however naïve she might've been about the wishes of the adults, Koharu was by no means oblivious. As she sensed a growing number of people regarding her with hatred, fear, and resentment, she reverted from being talkative to extremely quiet, only speaking openly to people that she felt she could trust, such as her father. It was also around this time that she sensed that she was being watched everywhere she went, a fact that frightened her to no end.

Despite all of that, Koharu found a sense of belonging in being with Naruto. The two of them were both hated by most of the village, but they pretended that that didn't hurt them as much as it did. Instead, they took to simply avoiding other people and playing together by themselves wherever they could. They were outcasts, but they were outcasts together. As long as they had each other and Shinji, nobody else mattered. At least, that was what they claimed.

And then the two misfits became three.

病

"If you're the daughter of the Hyuuga, then show us your Byakugan!" A young boy exclaimed.

"If you don't want to, then don't look our way!" His friend added.

"They're creepy aren't they? Those eyes?" Another boy said. The dark-haired girl standing before them began to tear up, but they just kept going.

"I bet you're actually a demon, right?" Said the first boy.

"Yeah, you're a Byakugan demon!" The second agreed. The little girl began to sob, causing the boys to burst out laughing as she curled up on the ground, weeping pitifully.

It was a snowy winter day in the grove of trees near the Academy, and nobody was around to help the poor girl.

Well, that wasn't entirely true.

Naruto was playing on a swing nearby when he saw what was happening. Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped off of the swing and ran over to the three older kids who were bullying the little girl.

"Hey! Knock it off!" He demanded.

The older boys turned toward the younger one clumsily running toward them and the little girl looked up.

"Huh?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" The blond declared, "The future Hokage-ttebayo!"

The older boys smirked as they approached him slowly.

"The future Hokage?" The leader taunted.

"Are you stupid?" The third boy asked.

"Get ready!" Naruto warned them as he formed a sign, "Kage bushin no jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, two copies of Naruto appeared. The problem was... they were tiny. Only three inches tall, at best.

"Come at me-ttebayo!" One of them squeaked.

"~Ttebayo!" The other echoed.

The three boys cracked up laughing as Naruto stared at his miniature clones in utter shock and humiliation. He looked up at the sound of one of them running toward him.

"Why you!" The leader of the three boys exclaimed, throwing his fist toward Naruto's face...

...Only for it to be caught by the much smaller hand of a girl about the same age as Naruto. The older boy was startled as a girl with midnight blue hair and fierce blue eyes glared up at him... or at least in his general direction.

"Don't touch my little brother." She said as she forced his hand away from her. Koharu had been nearby the entire time, since she and Naruto were rarely apart. She had merely been concealing her presence to try and give Naruto a chance to resolve things on his own before she stepped in.

"Wh-who are you?" The boy demanded as he stepped back, slightly unnerved by the ease with which she had stopped his punch.

"Mayonaka Koharu." She answered flatly as she glared up at the older children, "You know, picking on kids who are younger and weaker than you is nothing more than a sign of cowardice. Also, Hinata-chan hasn't awakened her Byakugan yet. It'd be unusual if she had."

"Why you little...!" The second boy said, rushing toward the blue-haired girl. He threw his fist at her, but she caught it easily and then slammed her flat palm into his stomach, knocking him back. The boy coughed and sputtered as he fell to the ground. The other little girl, whom Koharu had called Hinata, gasped as she recognized the move.

"If you have that little confidence and this little skill, then instead of picking on smaller kids, you should spend your time training to improve your taijutsu." Koharu said evenly.

"Oh yeah?! Get a load of my taijutsu!" The first boy said as he tried to punch her. Koharu blocked the blow effortlessly with her forearm and slammed her flat palm into his chest, causing him to cringe in pain as he fell on his butt.

The third boy looked closely at her and noticed the grey tint covering her pupils. "Hey wait a minute! You're that blind girl that all the adults are scared of! The one they say can read minds! How are you even able to...?"

"I might be blind, but I can see your every move before you make it." Koharu told him, "What do you think a mind reader does?" She moved into a proper stance for fighting. "If you three think you can take me, then by all means, try it."

The Hyuuga girl gasped again as she recognized Koharu's stance.

"We'll see about that!" The first boy exclaimed as all three ran at Koharu at once.

病

"Darn! We'll remember this!" The first boy said.

"Yeah, we'll pay you back for this!" The second boy declared.

"Next time!" The third added. Despite saying these things, all three of them were running to get away from Koharu as fast as they could.

Koharu scoffed. "Idiots..." She turned toward the other girl and held her hand out, "Are you okay, Hinata-chan?"

"Uh, yes..." Hinata said as she allowed Koharu to help her to her feet.

"Hinata-chan, this is my little brother, Naruto." Koharu said while gesturing to the blond. "Since you're here, would you like to play with us?"

"Huh? Really?" Hinata asked.

"Sure!" Naruto added. "It's always fun when there's more people! Let's play tag!"

"Oh, good idea!" Koharu said happily, "That game's no fun when there's only two of us after all."

"Neechan, you're it!" Naruto exclaimed before running off.

The three children played happily for a while before a man from the Hyuuga Clan came looking for Hinata.

"Lady Hinata!" The man called as he approached. He took sight of Naruto and glared at the young boy.

"Oh. I have to go." Hinata said, waving her hand as she turned to approach the man. However, Koharu's eyes hardened and she marched right up to Hinata's clansman.

"Hey! Who do you think you are, judging somebody for things that they have no control over?!" She demanded angrily, causing the Hyuuga man to be a bit surprised. "You're a grownup, right? So act like it! Grownups should know that a person's status doesn't define who they are! You think that he's some kind of monster, but my brother Naruto is kind and brave! He stood up to some other kids who were bullying Hinata-chan even though he stood no chance against them! If getting beat up was what he had to do to protect her, then he was more than willing to take that! Where were _you_ when that was happening?! Isn't it _your_ job to protect her?! Naruto has no control over what happened when he was born any more than Hinata-chan had control over being born with the Byakugan or that I had control over having the Shinjitsugan! You should judge a person by their actions, not their differences!"

Now Hinata's bodyguard was downright embarrassed at having been lectured by a little girl. Any other villager might've commented on Koharu's rudeness in speaking to an adult in this way, but the Hyuuga held a certain regard for Koharu and her father since the Shinjitsugan was related to the Byakugan, and it was well known among their clan that Koharu was a prodigy with regards to the abilities of her Kekkei Genkai. More than anyone else, she knew what was inside of Naruto, but deliberately chose to ignore it. She was a girl who judged people solely by the information she gleaned from their chakra, which meant that she saw Naruto and the Kyuubi as separate entities, despite their existence in the same body. For that reason, he couldn't help but feel ashamed by the fact that he had failed to do so himself, to say nothing of the fact that she was correct about him not being there to protect Hinata from the older children.

"My... my apologies..."

病

After that day, Hinata spent every evening playing with Naruto and Koharu together, their preference being a park that was a bit removed from the rest of the village, near the Police Force Headquarters. One day, in the early spring, they were playing together as usual when something caught Koharu's attention and she abruptly ran off.

"Excuse me!" She called as she ran up to two boys, the older of whom was carrying the younger one on his back, "Forgive my intrusion, but it looks like you've hurt your leg." She said to the younger one.

"Huh?" The boy questioned before looking down at his right leg, "Oh, it's nothing. I just twisted my ankle during training."

"Please, let me treat it for you." She insisted, "It won't do for you to start at the Academy tomorrow with an injury!"

The boy blinked, "How did you know that I'm starting the Academy tomorrow?" He asked.

"Ah, my little brother and our best friend are starting there tomorrow too." She explained, gesturing to Hinata and Naruto on the playground, "You're Uchiha Sasuke, right? I remember hearing Papa say that you would be in their class."

"Oh."

"Sasuke, there's a bench over there." The older boy, Sasuke's brother, said. "Let's set you down there so Koharu-chan can treat your leg."

"Hm? How did you know my name?" Koharu asked as she followed the older boy.

"You don't remember, but we've met before." He told her, "The first time was when you and Sasuke were babies. My name is Itachi."

"Itachi-san..." She said thoughtfully, "There is something a little familiar about your chakra when I think about it..."

"In my first year as a genin, my team and I babysat you and your brother fairly often." Itachi added for further explanation, "Sometimes I brought Sasuke along since he's the same age as you. I imagine the three of you were too young to remember it now though."

"That's probably why your chakra feels familiar then..." Koharu murmured. Itachi set Sasuke down on the bench and sat next to him. Koharu knelt down a little and held her hands over Sasuke's injured ankle, her hands taking on a blue-green glow.

Itachi blinked in surprise. "Koharu-chan, you've already learned Mystic Palm?" It was an A-Rank technique that required very precise chakra control. Even most iryouninja couldn't perform it. That a six-year-old girl could was practically unheard of.

"Papa taught me." She said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "It's a lot easier to master techniques like this when you can literally see your own flow of chakra."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"I have a Kekkei Genkai of my own." Koharu explained to him, "It makes chakra control very easy for me."

"Ohh..." Sasuke said with interest, "I bet you've got good grades at the Academy then."

"No. I... I can't attend the Academy. I'm not allowed to." She said sadly.

"Huh? Why?" Sasuke asked. He couldn't fathom how a girl who was obviously very talented at Ninjutsu could be banned from the Academy. Koharu looked up at him, her blue eyes filled with sadness.

"I'm blind." She said simply, "No matter how talented I may be, that's considered too dangerous of a handicap for a shinobi, so I'm not being allowed to enter the Academy. My birthday isn't until the fourth, so I would've been in your class too if I had..."

"But you said that Naruto kid is your younger brother..." Sasuke remarked in confusion, trying to change the subject.

"Adopted. We're not related by blood." Koharu explained, "Naruto's mama and papa... they were killed by an enemy of the Leaf on the night that he was born. That's what Papa told me. He was close with them, so he took Naruto in and so, he's always been my brother."

"An enemy of the Leaf... killed his parents when he was born?" Sasuke asked in confusion, "Why?"

"I don't know." Koharu admitted, "I was only six-months-old, so I don't actually remember it. To be honest, Naruto doesn't even know that much. I've probably said more than I should have..."

"I do remember your father saying something along those lines that night." Itachi said thoughtfully, "But I never found out what he meant." When Koharu and Sasuke looked up at him in confusion, he explained, "Your father asked my mother to look after you before he went to try and help Naruto-kun's parents, so you were with us at the time."

Koharu nodded as her hands stopped glowing and she stood up, "There! It's all better!" She turned to run off, "Have fun at the Academy tomorrow!"

"She's kind of weird..." Sasuke remarked as he slipped off the bench and tested his foot before smiling, "But she's really good!"

病

Koharu stood at the edge of the grove of trees near the Academy, watching the entrance ceremony. She'd been careful not to let Naruto see it all morning, but she was really disappointed about not being allowed to join. Her father was with the other family members attending the ceremony, but he had allowed Koharu to watch from a distance rather than right up front. She frowned to herself, taking note of the chakra signatures that she recognized. Uchiha Sasuke... Yamanaka Ino... Hyuuga Hinata... and of course, Uzumaki Naruto. Her brother and all of her friends were entering the Academy today. They wouldn't be around for her to play with until at least the afternoon. Her father had work at the hospital. She sighed and turned so that her back was against the tree. For the first time since she was born... she was going to be completely alone for an extended period of time.

As the ceremony ended, Shinji approached his daughter, frowning at her forlorn appearance. "Koharu." She turned her head toward him, "Do you want to come to the hospital with me?" She shook her head.

"No. I'll just be in the way. I'll just... stick around here and train by myself." Shinji frowned with worry, but Koharu smiled weakly at him, "Don't worry Papa. I'll be okay." She couldn't hide her feelings from Shinji and she knew that, but she wanted him to at least trust that she could look after herself while he worked. Shinji sighed softly, but nodded to his daughter and left.

Koharu headed into the grove and walked up a tree before sitting on one of its branches. She swung her feet, trying to decide what to do with herself. The problem was that training on her own was rather difficult. There was only so much that one could do to practice taijutsu alone, her father didn't even allow her to carry kunai, and her ninjutsu repertoire was... limited. It wasn't that there weren't other things she could do. She could always go to the Yamanaka flower shop. Even if Ino wasn't there, her mother had always treated her kindly. There was, at least, that benefit of living in a village full of distant relatives.

Suddenly something caught Koharu's attention and she shivered. She was being watched. That, in and of itself, was not unusual. Koharu was more than aware of the fact that she was being constantly observed by _somebody_. It was a feeling that had always unnerved her in the rare moments that she was alone. However, most of the time, she was with Naruto, whose chakra reserves were so large, even without the Kyuubi, that she could ignore that feeling. Right now, however, Naruto was not there. The one watching her was closer to her than he was. Going to a more crowded area would help, but... if she went to an area where there were fewer plants and more buildings, she was liable to run into something. That was why she hadn't given any serious consideration to visiting the flower shop. She whimpered in fright, shutting her eyes tightly, not that it helped. She could practically hear the voice of the one who was watching her. Their chakra said it all.

_This child cannot be trusted. She's too perceptive. She is a threat._

With another whimper of fright, the little girl dropped from the tree. She landed on her feet and took off, heading deeper into the forest. Panic overtook her as she desperately tried to outrun her "escort", despite knowing that it was impossible. All she wanted was to get away, to feel safe. Lost in her terror, she didn't pay attention to where she was going. At least not until she realized that she was about to run straight off a cliff and skidded to a halt. Panting and out of breath, she turned and faced the direction she had just come from. Without anything to really obscure her "vision" at this point, she could _see_ the chakra of the one who'd been following her and she once more whimpered in fear. At that moment, the edge of the cliff gave way and she screamed as she slipped off of the bluff.

病

Uchiha Itachi was walking with his best friend Shisui back to the Uchiha Compound after they had successfully completed the mission that would get him into the ANBU. They had already made their report and were now heading into the compound the back way, through the forest, which was their preferred route. At that moment, the sound of a child screaming reached their ears. The two of them looked at each other in both concern and confusion.

"Help!" Came the cry of a small, frightened voice. Without a moment's hesitation, the two boys ran off toward the sound.

病

Koharu whimpered fearfully as she dangled from the side of the cliff. She had just barely managed to grab hold of a small ledge, but her grip on the piece of stone wasn't particularly good, and it was only a matter of time before she'd slip and plummet into the ravine beneath her. She focused her attention on the chakra of the shinobi who had been following her. They hadn't moved at all! Were they seriously just going to let her fall to her death?! Tears filled her eyes and she cried out again.

"Help!"

"Hang on, we're coming!"

She abruptly became aware of two new chakra signatures moving toward her at considerable speed upon hearing the reply. Two members of the Uchiha Clan, and one of them was a person she recognized.

"Itachi-san! Help me!' She pleaded.

"Koharu-chan!" Itachi exclaimed in surprise as he arrived at the cliff's edge with his friend.

"Please help me!" She cried in terror, "I can't hold on much longer."

"Just hold on! We're coming down to get you!" The other boy said as he and Itachi carefully descended the cliff by concentrating chakra in the soles of their feet. Koharu screamed as her fingers slipped from the ledge, but Itachi's friend quickly reached out and caught hold of her forearm to save her.

"Give me your other hand!" Itachi called to the young girl, stretching out his hand toward her. Feeling that his friend had a secure grip on her, the little girl reached up and managed to grab ahold of Itachi's hand. Both boys pulled her up and she swung her legs, directing her own chakra to her feet to adhere to the cliff.

"You've already learned how to do that?" Itachi's friend asked incredulously.

"She used Mystic Palm to treat Sasuke's sprained ankle yesterday, so I'd be surprised if she couldn't." Itachi told him. Both boys continued to hold Koharu's hands as they walked back up the cliff with her. Once they had made it to the top and were a safe distance away from edge, Koharu plopped to the ground and began to cry softly. Itachi knelt down next to her. "Hey, it's okay..." He said gently. "You're safe now." To his surprise, the little girl threw herself into his arms, burying her head in his chest as she clung to his shirt. Itachi wrapped his arms around her to assure her that she was safe. "It's okay, Koharu-chan..." He couldn't help feeling slightly confused as Koharu shook her head in response to that. His friend, however, was more concerned about something else.

"What are you doing out here? And how did you wind up... like that?" He asked awkwardly.

Koharu sniffled as she pulled away from Itachi slightly so that she could talk. "I was trying to get away..."

"Away from what?" Itachi asked.

Another sniffle. "From the shinobi who is always watching me... everywhere I go... they're always there..." She whimpered, "Normally I have Naruto with me, and his chakra is strong enough that I can ignore them, but... He started at the Academy today, so I'm all alone and... I couldn't take it... I couldn't take the feeling of being watched as if I were an enemy. I tried to get away, but I wasn't paying enough attention and... the next thing I knew, I was on that cliff..." Itachi and his friend exchanged concerned glances, but Koharu didn't seem to notice as she gripped Itachi's shirt and sniffled again, "They were going to... just let me fall... they followed me all the way here, but..." Itachi sighed and stroked her hair in an attempt to comfort her. The little girl's body shook as she clung to him again, "I hate this! It's not like I mean to read everybody's chakra! I don't even want to! But I don't have any other way to see! I don't even know how to _not_ do it!" She turned her face toward Itachi with tear-filled eyes, "You understand, right? I know that... your clan also has problems with the village... There's no way that I could be unaware of it..." She buried her face in his shirt again, "Why do people treat us like monsters?! We didn't ask to have Kekkei Genkai! Naruto didn't ask to be a Jinchuuriki! It's not fair!"

Neither Itachi nor Shisui had any idea of what to say or do as Koharu continued clinging to Itachi and crying her eyes out. After a while, she began to settle down, and Itachi decided to try for a distraction.

"Koharu-chan, are you hungry?" He asked. Koharu blinked in surprise, but then nodded.

病

Itachi and Shisui brought Koharu to a small tea house in the village proper, where Itachi's former teammate Shinko happened to work. After greeting the young woman and ordering their food, Itachi decided to start a conversation with the younger child.

"Naruto's teacher will probably ask him this today too." He began, "What is your dream for the future, Koharu-chan?"

Koharu blinked in surprise before her face became downcast. "I don't really have one..." She admitted.

"Really?" Shisui said in surprise, "Even if you can't be a regular shinobi, I think you'd be a great addition to the sensory unit."

"The Yamanaka Clan are my cousins, and I don't think Ino-chan's Papa would mind, but... Do you really think that the same higher-ups who keep a child under twenty-four hour surveillance and would _let_ her fall off a cliff would allow her to be part of the team that _scans_ the entire village?" Koharu asked bluntly. Shisui sweat-dropped, unable to deny her logic.

"What about an iryouninja?" Itachi asked.

"I'd like that, but I don't think it's possible for me to be a full-fledged iryouninja. I can get by as a field medic, but... there are times when diagnosing illness or even identifying poisons requires being able to see things in a normal sense." She explained before sighing softly. "I wish that Grandma Tsunade hadn't retired. Papa says that if anybody could've fixed my eyes, it would've been her. Then I wouldn't have to use the Shinjitsugan constantly and maybe the village wouldn't be afraid of me..." Itachi and Shisui both frowned, both able to understand the little girl's predicament all too well. Koharu gripped the fabric of her skirt with a forlorn expression. "The fact is, I'll probably be relegated to being a watchdog to Naruto my whole life, even though he shouldn't need it. Everyone says that that's my role here in Konoha."

Itachi's frown deepened. He knew what it was like to have others' expectations pushed upon him... to not be allowed to think for himself... to not be given the chance to dream.

病

A few weeks later, Koharu greeted Itachi when she found him waiting outside the Academy for Sasuke. She herself had come to wait for Naruto and Hinata, along with Hinata's bodyguard. Following the incident on the first day, Hinata's father had offered to train Koharu while Hinata and Naruto were at school, and then she accompanied Hinata's bodyguard when he went to pick up Hinata. Koharu had settled down since then and seemed content with this arrangement, but there was something on her mind this particular day that she'd been thinking about all weekend.

"Hey! Neechan!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he ran over to his sister, Hinata following him at a slower pace.

"Naruto! Hinata-chan! How was your day at the Academy?" Koharu asked with a smile.

"Same as usual..." Naruto muttered, causing Koharu to sweat-drop and Hinata to laugh nervously. Koharu only paid mind to her brother's grumbling for a moment before she turned her attention to the other students leaving for the day, her senses honing in on a boy that felt like he was Hinata's brother, but Koharu knew otherwise. Having found her target, she jogged over to him.

"Hey! You're Hinata-chan's cousin, Hyuuga Neji, right?!" She knew he was.

"Huh?" The boy, only a week older than Koharu, turned and looked at her. "Yeah. And you're Lady Hinata's friend, Mayonaka Koharu. So what do you want with me?"

Koharu glared at the boy slightly before pointing her finger at him, "I'm challenging you to a taijutsu match!"

"Huh?!" A young girl from Neji's class exclaimed, obviously thinking that the other girl was crazy to say such a thing.

Neji narrowed his eyes slightly, "Why?" It wasn't that he was outright dismissing her, but he still wanted to know her reason.

"I don't necessarily think that Lord Hiashi was right to do what he did, but even so, what you did on Saturday was going too far for a sparring match!" Koharu exclaimed, "You had no right to try and hurt Hinata-chan! And you're entirely too stuck up! That's why I want to have a match with you! The loser has to do whatever the winner says!"

"Hmph. Fine. But you'll regret challenging me." Neji replied as he set his schoolbag down.

"Don't taunt an opponent until _after_ you've beaten them." Koharu chided, "Now then, before we start, we need a proper referee. Somebody who won't be biased." She scanned the chakra of the people around her and noticed that Itachi had not yet left with Sasuke. "Ah! Itachi-san!" She turned and ran over to the two brothers, "I've challenged Hyuuga Neji to a match. Would you mind being the referee? If we don't have one, it's nothing more than a schoolyard fistfight."

"Who the heck is Hyuuga Neji?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"He's in the class ahead of yours." Koharu replied.

"You're challenging an upperclassman?!" Sasuke asked incredulously. Even he wouldn't attempt to do something so rude as challenging his senior.

"No, because _I'm_ not _in_ the Academy, remember? Strictly speaking, I don't _have_ upperclassmen." Koharu replied, "But this has nothing to do with the Academy. He made my best friend cry, and she's his cousin! That's why I've challenged him to a proper match, but we need somebody to be the judge, and in the interest of fairness, it can't be somebody from the Hyuuga."

Itachi blinked. Clearly, Koharu took the protocols for challenging somebody very seriously, which he honestly respected, so he nodded. "All right." He walked with Koharu back over to where Neji was waiting. "So a straightforward taijutsu match?" He asked.

"Right." Koharu said, "No ninjutsu, no genjutsu. Not that genjutsu affects me anyway. Hand-to-hand only."

"All right." Itachi said with a nod, "We'll use the Academy rules for a sparring match then. First one to fall or be immobilized by their opponent loses."

"Got it." Koharu said with a nod before forming a sign with her right hand. Neji raised a brow at her and she rolled her eyes in exasperation. "The rules say that both participants must make the spar sign before they begin. It doesn't matter what the reason for the match is. Now hurry it up."

"Fine." Neji replied, forming his left hand into the sign as well. Once she saw that he had done so, Koharu moved into a proper fighting stance and Neji did the same.

"Begin!" Itachi said.

Neji made the first move, but Koharu easily diverted the attack with her forearm before grazing his shoulder with her own palm. Neji winced, but retaliated by spinning around on his right foot, attempting to kick Koharu with his left. She avoided this by bending backwards, but rather than merely dodging his attack, she countered by performing a backwards cartwheel, attempting to strike him with a kick from below. Neji just managed to avoid this and Koharu sprung back to her feet, a slight distance between them now. Both children moved to close the gap at the same time. Neji thrust his arm forward, but Koharu again diverted it from its path with her own forearm, ducking underneath his arm slightly as she did.

_'Here!'_

Before Neji could recover from his parried attack, Koharu let out a yell and struck him square in the chest, knocking the Hyuuga boy away from her and causing him to fall flat on his back.

"That's enough!" Itachi announced, "The winner is Mayonaka Koharu!"

The other kids in the group were already gasping and beginning to chatter amongst themselves. Koharu walked over to Neji and held out her hand in a silent offer to tie the unison sign. Neji sighed and returned the gesture before standing up.

"So now what? I suppose you want me to apologize to Lady Hinata?" He asked.

"That would be nice, but an apology only has meaning when it comes from the heart. Nobody needs the Shinjitsugan to see that you wouldn't mean it." Koharu replied, "So instead, I don't want you to speak to her until you are ready to apologize, no matter how long that is. Not one word. Understand?"

"Fine."

"Oh, and a word of advice." Koharu added, "You didn't think I could really fight you because I don't have the Byakugan. You made the mistake of thinking that my visual prowess somehow isn't as good as yours, which isn't the case. I could list any number of ways that the Shinjitsugan is better, but that probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. Just keep this in mind: You can't judge an opponent based on what you think of them or how good you think they are. Today was just a formal challenge in the schoolyard, but in the future, when you become a shinobi, mistakes like that could cost you your life. Remember that." She turned and walked over to her brother, "Come on Naruto, let's go home. Papa will get worried if we take too long."

"Sure!" Naruto said with a grin.

"See you later, Hinata-chan!" Koharu called as she and Naruto ran off.

"Compared to him, Naruto's sister is kind of cool." Sasuke said, clearly stunned at having witnessed a girl who'd been banned from entering the Academy defeat a student who was a year older than him.

"Koharu-chan has her own way of doing things, that's for sure." Itachi replied.

病

A couple of more weeks passed by when Koharu found herself being dragged into the middle of something she had been trying to avoid. She was playing with Naruto on their usual playground when three members of the Uchiha Clan approached them.

"Hey, you're Mayonaka Koharu, aren't you?" One of the men asked.

"Yes. And you are?" Koharu asked, instinctively on her guard in response to their chakra.

"We're members of the Police Force. We think you can help us with our investigation." One of his companions answered.

"Investigation?" Koharu asked in confusion.

"We're about to go question a suspect regarding the recent death of a member of our clan." The third explained, "We need you to tell us whether or not he's lying."

Koharu turned, angling her left shoulder away from them, a sign that she was feeling intimidated. "What if I don't want to?"

"You're going to refuse to cooperate with the Police Force?" The first man asked her, as if daring her to defy them.

Koharu's lip quivered. She'd heard recently that the Police Force had been responding to even the smallest offenses with violence and imprisonment. Even with her immunity to genjutsu, she was no match for three adult shinobi. She turned to her brother, "Naruto... go and find Papa... I'm... I'm going to go with them."

"Huh? But Neechan...!" Naruto exclaimed, unable to help worrying about his sister going anywhere with these overly pushy policemen.

Koharu turned her head back toward him as she left the playground. "I'll be all right... just go find Papa, Naruto..." Naruto looked hopelessly confused, but he nodded, watching as Koharu left with the three officers.

病

"Is Itachi here?!" One of the policemen demanded after they had led Koharu to a stately home within the Uchiha Compound, "We have to talk! Come out!"

Itachi quietly walked out to greet them. "Why is everyone gathered here?" He asked politely. Koharu quietly stepped off to the side to stand in the yard, away from the walkway. No matter how calm and polite he seemed, she could easily sense that the presence of these three had put Itachi in a bad mood. Given their personalities, she had no intention of being in his way when they pushed their luck too far.

"There are two people who didn't come to yesterday's assembly," The officer who had called Itachi out began, "Why didn't you come?!"

Koharu sensed Sasuke peeking out at the scene from the hallway. Judging by his chakra, the young boy, while frightened by his temperamental clansmen, was unsurprised by the fact that Itachi had not been at the aforementioned meeting.

"I understand that when you enter the ANBU, you get roped into various troublesome things." The man continued, "Your father also said something like that in your defense."

"But for us, we don't intend to treat you special." Said the older man beside him.

Itachi closed his eyes, as though trying to maintain his composure, "Understood. I'll be more careful next time. Now I'm going to have ask you to leave."

Her frown deepened. Koharu could sense that Itachi was deeply saddened by something, but such a strong emotion... what could cause it? Whatever it was, it was definitely going to shorten Itachi's already unusually short fuse.

"Right..." Said the second man, "But before that, there's something else I want to ask you..." Itachi looked up, and Koharu could tell he was a bit alarmed. "It's about Uchiha Shisui, who threw himself into the Nakano River to kill himself."

At this, Koharu gasped. "Shisui-san...?" She immediately noticed the flare in Itachi's chakra and realized that this information was the source of the preteen's sorrow. Sasuke seemed just as shocked as she was. Suddenly, her lip began to quiver. So _that_ was why she hadn't seen Shisui all day.

"Shisui is the other person who didn't come to the meeting." Said the first officer. "As I recall, you adored him as if he were really your older brother."

Itachi was clearly troubled, but all he said was, "Is that so? I hadn't seen him at all, recently. That's too bad."

Koharu's eyes widened. _'He's lying!' _She thought to herself, _'Itachi-san must've been there when Shisui-san died! No wonder he's in so much pain!'_

"And we, the Police Force, have decided to launch an all-out investigation." The leading officer said.

"Investigation?!" Itachi asked, alarmed for a reason that Koharu couldn't quite pinpoint.

The second man reached into his obi and pulled out a piece of paper. "This is the will that Shisui wrote." He explained, "The analysis of the handwriting has been completed. No mistake, he did indeed write it."

"If there are no murder leads, then why the investigation?" Itachi asked.

"It'd be easy for a person who can use the Sharingan to copy handwriting, you see..." The first man said.

Sasuke's fear seemed to grow as Itachi accepted the piece of paper.

"The most adept Uchiha. The man feared as 'Shunshin no Shisui'." The second man began, "He was a man who would take the lead, no matter what the mission, if it was for the sake of the clan."

"It's tough to think that such a man would leave something like this and kill himself." The first added.

"It's not good to judge people based on looks and mere speculation, don't you think?" Itachi replied. Koharu frowned to herself. That had been a warning, but these blockheads weren't smart enough to realize that.

"For the time being, I'll leave the will with you." The first officer said.

"Take that and you request cooperation in the investigation from the ANBU." The second said.

"Understood..." Itachi replied.

The three men turned to leave—The third one, who hadn't spoken this whole time, had just been keeping watch for some reason—and the oldest of them spoke. "I hope we get a lead."

"Also, we have a different route to ANBU." The first man said. "We'll know right away if you do something like crushing the investigation request."

_'Liar! You're bluffing!' _Koharu thought.

Itachi clenched the paper in his hand. "Why don't you just come right out and say it?" He demanded, "You suspect me, don't you?" Koharu could tell by their chakra that all four Uchiha had now activated their Sharingan, the three men glaring over their shoulders at Itachi, who was glaring right back in unusually heated anger.

"Yeah, that's right, you darn brat..." The first man said.

"Listen up, Itachi." The oldest man said, "Just trying doing something like betraying the clan and... it'll cost you!"

In the next moment, in a series of movements too fast for anyone besides Koharu to see, Itachi rushed at the three men and swiftly clobbered all three of them, throwing them out into the street beyond his front gate.

"I told you before..." Itachi said as he straightened up, "It's not good to judge people based on looks and mere speculation. It's because you take the liberty to judge me as patient and take me lightly. The Clan... The Clan... You measure incorrectly the size of your own vessels and don't know the depth of mine. That's why you're lying there now."

The oldest man looked over at Itachi. "Shisui was... monitoring you recently..." He stated, "So soon after entering the ANBU... the strangeness of your behavior couldn't be overlooked. What the heck are you thinking?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed, his Sharingan still active, "Fixated on the organization, fixated on the clan, fixated on the name. It's a dreadful thing that constrains oneself and label's one's own vessel. And it's a foolish thing... that fear and hate... what one has never seen or known..."

"Stop it, Itachi!" Fugaku suddenly exclaimed. Itachi turned and glared at his father. "What the heck's the matter with you?! Itachi... You've been a little strange lately."

"There's nothing strange at all." Itachi replied flatly, "I'm carrying out my own role... that's it."

"Then why didn't you come last night?" Fugaku asked.

"In order to elevate myself higher..." Itachi replied.

"What're are you talking about...?" Fugaku asked in confusion. Koharu was wondering too by this point. She was no longer able to understand what the older child was saying. Itachi abruptly took out a kunai and threw it at the wall on the other side of the street. The little girl couldn't help but wonder why, as she was unable to see what was painted upon said wall. Fugaku, however, narrowed his eyes and looked back at his son.

"My vessel is dismayed at this foolish clan!" Itachi stated.

Koharu could sense Sasuke's fear and confusion as he watched the scene. He had since moved to the doorway of their home, but unable to sense Itachi's emotions like she could, there was no doubting that he couldn't understand what had gotten into his older brother.

"Because you're focused on insignificant things like clans, you lose sight of what's truly important." Itachi continued. "True change cannot be made if stuck within the restrictions of regulations and constrained predictions and imagination..."

"Saying such arrogant things!" Fugaku exclaimed as he helped the oldest officer to his feet.

"Enough!" The man in question said once he was standing, "You'll be imprisoned if you say any more foolish nonsense." Sasuke's fear and confusion grew at this statement.

"Now... what do you say?!" The first officer demanded before narrowing his eyes, his Sharingan once again active. "I can't tolerate it anymore... Captain, order imprisonment!"

"Niisan! Stop it already!" Sasuke cried desperately from the doorway.

Itachi gasped and his eyes widened. In his anger, he had forgotten Sasuke's presence, but hearing his younger brother's frightened voice, he was immediately filled with a sense of regret. He lowered his eyes before dropping to his knees and prostrating himself in front of the four men, "I'm not the one who killed Shisui. But I apologize for my numerous slips of the tongue. I'm very sorry..."

Fugaku didn't quite seem to know what to make of this, but he quietly closed his eyes. "Recently, it seems that he's been up to his ears in ANBU missions and is a little tired..."

"Captain!" Exclaimed the oldest man.

"The ANBU is a force under the direct control of Lord Hokage. Even we, the Police Force, can't arrest him if we don't have an arrest warrant." Fugaku continued. "And, as for Itachi... I will take the responsibility and monitor him..." He bowed his head to his three clansmen, "Please..."

"Understood..." The oldest officer replied.

As Fugaku moved towards his home, Koharu quietly walked over to Itachi, causing Fugaku's eyes to widen. "You're...!"

Koharu scarcely acknowledged the man as she hugged Itachi's head to her chest, causing the boy's eyes to widen in surprise. Fugaku saw the sadness in the little girl's eyes as she did so.

"He won't show it on the outside, but... Itachi-san's heart... is crying..." She said quietly. Fugaku's eyes widened and Koharu turned her head, directing a tearful glare at the three men, "You dragged me here because you hoped I would confirm your baseless accusations, but the fact is, Itachi-san _didn't _kill Shisui-san. There's no way... But he did know of his death, and he's deeply saddened by it. That's why he lost his temper. Who can blame him? How would _you _feel if somebody showed up unannounced and accused you of killing your big brother?" She turned and looked at Fugaku, "And you asked him why he didn't come to the meeting everyone keeps talking about, but judging by yours and Sasuke-san's chakra, he told you that he wouldn't be there ahead of time. Nobody does that and then commits murder." She stopped hugging Itachi and stepped forward toward the three officers. "However, your suspicions about a murder may be right. Shisui-san passed by the park that Naruto and I play in yesterday, and there was nothing in his chakra that would make me think that he was about to..." Her eyes were lined with tears, but she blinked them away, "If he did, then there must've been a reason... to protect the village, and protect your clan... Perhaps he was..."

Suddenly her eyes widened in alarm, and before anybody knew what was happening, Koharu pulled out a kunai from the holster on her leg and held it up just in time to deflect a projectile that had been heading straight for her. She kept the kunai at the ready, her eyes wide with fright and her breathing shallow.

"Koharu-chan!" Itachi called out in concern, reaching out to place a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"

As suddenly as she had withdrawn it, Koharu dropped her kunai and flung herself into Itachi's arms, clinging to him the way that she had back on the cliff. "I... Itachi-san!" She whimpered pitifully, shaking in terror as she clung to him and began to cry. Itachi's eyes widened in surprise before he immediately searched the ground for the projectile that she had deflected.

"Chichiue..." He said quietly to his father. Fugaku's gaze followed Itachi's, quickly spotting the senbon that was lying on the ground a few feet from where Koharu had been standing. It was clearly coated in poison. Somebody had been trying to stop the child from finishing what she was about to say.

"Koharu!" At that moment, Shinji came running around the corner in search of his daughter.

Koharu turned toward him. "Papa!"

Shinji immediately sensed his daughter's terror and, spotting her kunai on the ground, understood the reason. He rushed forward, past the three officers, and knelt down in front of her, quickly hugging her tightly as she practically jumped from Itachi's arms and into his. "Thank goodness you're all right..." He pressed his daughter's head into his neck and turned to glare at the three officers, "What were you thinking, dragging her into your investigation?! Koharu attracts _enough_ unwanted attention as it is!"

"He's right." Fugaku told them, "If Koharu hadn't succeeded in deflecting that senbon, she would likely be dead right now."

Shinji sighed in relief as he held his daughter tightly, "Thank goodness I let you learn how to deflect projectiles with a kunai." He stood up with Koharu in his arms, "Chief Fugaku, forgive my impertinence, but... from now on, I would prefer that my daughter not have any involvement with the Police Force. I came here after Naruto told me that she'd been coerced into coming here, but if Koharu didn't have increased awareness of her surroundings and a heightened ability to sense danger..."

"I understand." Fugaku said with a nod, "And I apologize. These three should've never involved her to start with. I'll make sure the entire Police Force knows that Koharu is never again to be asked to assist with an investigation."

It would be more than a year before Mayonaka Koharu once again met Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

So since somebody was frustrated by the lack of Koharu's back story before the story began, I decided to write this prologue. I was originally going to make it a separate piece, but I decided to just make it into one really long chapter to make it fit more nicely at the beginning. ;

Also, the incident of somebody trying to hit her with a poisoned senbon is why Koharu only speaks to her father about Itachi's feelings of dread the morning before the massacre. She purposely keeps her distance from the Uchiha between the two incidents.


	2. Escape

Tears streamed down the face of Uchiha Itachi as he fled from Konoha, the place where he could no longer live, but that would forever be his home. His heart ached as much as his eyes burned from the pain of having massacred his entire clan, and the expression he'd seen on his beloved little brother's face.

Suddenly the screech of a falcon broke through his thoughts and such a bird suddenly flew up alongside him, looking over its shoulder at him and screeching again, as if beckoning him to follow. Itachi could tell this was a summoning falcon, and had the distinct feeling that he knew the person who used it, so he followed it without too much thought.

It was a good thing he did.

Before he had gone far, the falcon suddenly disappeared, implying that the user's summoning had ended for some reason. However, just ahead of him, Itachi saw what he felt certain it had wanted him to see. A man, whom he recognized as a fellow ninja from Konoha, was lying unconscious on the ground. Given the recent strain on his eyes from his mission, Itachi couldn't quite make out who it was. What he could make out was the head of dark hair sticking out of the blanketed bundle that the man was clutching tightly to his body. There was no mistake that he was holding a child. Neither of them were moving, but a pair of ANBU from Konoha were approaching the pair. Judging from the kunai that had most definitely pierced the man's vital organs, Itachi realized that they were intending to kill the child he was holding, and for some reason, he couldn't allow that.

It was paradoxical, considering he had just killed various children from his own clan, but... Suddenly, the fact that these were Konoha ANBU did not matter to him. He was now, as far as anybody knew, a rogue ninja and an S-Rank criminal. What did it matter now if he defied village law in order to protect a child who was clearly defenseless? Besides... killing a child was _not_ something that the Hokage would've ordered, and he was not going to allow Shimura Danzō to control him any more.

He dropped down in front of the pair, glaring at them. "If you value your lives, you will waste no time in retreating." He warned. The pair looked at each other, then charged at Itachi, which he had honestly expected, but they would've been wise to heed his warning. Although he was a pacifist by nature, he was also burning with anger toward those belonging to Root right now, so he disposed of the shinobi quickly.

"Itachi... kun..." A weak voice managed. Itachi turned and quickly knelt beside the man, eyes widening in shock as he recognized who it was. Mayonaka Shinji, a man who had come to Konoha from Roran after the Fourth Hokage had saved the kingdom from disaster eleven years ago. Shinji's clan had been targeted by the man who had been threatening Roran, and so he had relocated to Konoha in the hopes of preserving his bloodline. That meant the child in his arms was undoubtedly his eight-year-old daughter, Mayonaka Koharu.

Three months older than Itachi's brother, Sasuke, Koharu was something of a misfit within Konohagakure. Problems with her birth had resulted in her mother's passing and in her being born blind. At a young age, she had awakened and adapted to using her clan's Kekkei Genkai as a means to navigate the world without sight, but her abilities to read people's chakra and understand their true nature, emotions, and intentions often left others unnerved, resulting in her being an outcast. In addition, because blindness was considered a severe handicap for a shinobi, she had not been allowed to enter the Academy like other children her own age. To Itachi's knowledge, her only friends were her surrogate brother, Uzumaki Naruto, and the young Hyuuga Hinata, both of whom were also outcasts in their own rights.

"Shinji-san, what happened?" Itachi asked with concern. He knew the man was not much longer for this world, but he had to find out why Root had been after him and his daughter.

Shinji didn't look at Itachi, but it didn't appear he needed to. "It's happened... then...? Your clan... you were forced to..."

Itachi's eyes widened, "How did you know about...?"

"Koharu... told me... She sensed... there was something wrong... with you today... When I read... your chakra... for myself... I realized..." Shinji explained, his breathing labored, "I had planned... to tell... Lord Hokage... to give him a chance... to avert it, but... Danzō realized... my intentions... and sent Root... after us... I've been... trying to escape... but I couldn't... and then... I sensed you nearby... so I sent the falcon. Please... take Koharu... If Danzō learns she is alive... he will..."

Itachi looked at the child with concern. Although she was breathing, she hadn't moved this entire time. "Is she all right?"

"Yes... she's just... tired..." Shinji explained, "The Shinjistugan... drains her... Please... take her... protect her..."

"What are you going to do?" A voice asked, and Itachi looked over his shoulder at Uchiha Madara, his accomplice in the mission prior. The man must've come looking for him when Itachi took longer than expected.

Itachi carefully lifted Koharu into his arms. She shifted slightly in her sleep, but didn't wake. He looked at Shinji. "You have my word."

病

It was the next morning by the time Itachi and Madara reached Amegakure, where the organization known as the Akatsuki had their hideout, and even if Koharu hadn't yet recovered her chakra from the strain of her powers, the steady downpour that greeted them caused her to awake.

"Mm, what?" She murmured in confusion as she shifted beneath the blanket, instinctively trying to get away from the water that was falling on her. Since she was blind, she wasn't bothering to look around, but she possessed a certain awareness of her surroundings regardless. "This chakra... Itachi-san?"

"Good morning, Koharu." Itachi told her kindly, slightly inclining his head toward her, but not really bothering to shift his gaze since she couldn't meet it anyway.

"Papa... where's Papa?" Koharu asked, seeming to be a bit disoriented.

"I'm sorry... I didn't get there in time..." Itachi told her, "But I promised him I'd look after you."

Koharu sniffled, instinctively burying her face in Itachi's chest, "That man... Danzō... he always hated me... more than the others."

"He's skilled at reading other people, but he doesn't like to be read himself." Itachi remarked.

"It wasn't just that." Koharu explained, "I could... masks didn't make a difference with me... I could recognize members of the ANBU no matter who they were, if I just met them once..."

"I could see where that would be concerning, but it's not something you have any control over." Itachi replied, "Besides, most sensory types are like that."

"Yes, but... I couldn't tell... when they were on duty and when they weren't." She pointed out, "I don't remember it, but... I guess... I caused some problems when I was little...?"

"So that's why you became so withdrawn." Itachi realized, remembering that Koharu had been very friendly as a toddler, before suddenly becoming extremely quiet. As far as he knew, she rarely spoke to anyone outside her father and friends unless they addressed her first.

Koharu sobbed slightly as she clung to Itachi's ANBU vest. "What's going to happen to me, Itachi-san? If I go back to Konoha... I'll die!"

"You'll be okay." Itachi said gently, "I can't go back to Konoha now either, so you'll just stay with me."

"Don't lie to me, Itachi-san." Koharu insisted, "I can hardly say that _you're _okay _yourself_ at the moment. And I know... I can tell... you're going to leave someday too."

Itachi grimaced, becoming aware that he was going to have to avoid trying to sidestep things with this child, while also aware that he was going to have to teach her how to know when she should voice her thoughts and when she shouldn't.

"I'm not going anywhere for the time being." Itachi assured her, "It will probably be several years before I do. During that time, I'll teach you to protect yourself, so that even when I'm gone, you'll be able to survive."

"But I couldn't even enter the Academy..."

"The curriculum at the Academy isn't set up for a child like you," Itachi admitted, "But being blind doesn't mean that you can't learn to be a shinobi. It will be easier when you have training meant just for you. However, from now on, it will be dangerous for people to know who I am, so don't address me by name unless I say it's safe."

"Then... I'll just call you 'Sensei'."

病

"I don't have a problem with you joining us, but... what the heck are you going to do with that kid?!" Sasori of the Red Sand asked shortly after Itachi had been introduced to the members of Akatsuki. "Having her around on your missions will be a problem."

"She would be a liability." Konan, the lone woman in Akatsuki, agreed.

"I'm aware of that." Itachi remarked, "But no, I won't be bringing her on missions. At least, not directly. I'll probably have her wait for me at an inn just outside the border of my destinations."

"Actually, my grandparents run a ryokan in Yugakure." Koharu told him from where she was hiding behind his legs, "You could probably leave me with them for short periods if need be."

"Then why can't you just go live with them?" A man called Kakuzu asked her.

"The man targeting Koharu is mostly likely aware of her grandparents." Itachi remarked, "If she lived with them, they would all end up dead by the end of the month."

"I don't see a problem with it." Orochimaru remarked mildly, "She may be blind and a clear liability right now, but with training, I'm sure she could become useful."

Itachi noticed a slight look of disgust crossing Koharu's face at this before she suddenly turned her head towards his face.

"Sensei, do your eyes hurt? The flow of chakra to them isn't quite right..."

"It's probably from overusing his Sharingan." A person known as Zetsu remarked in confirmation.

"Here." Koharu said while gesturing with her hand to Itachi. He knelt down so that his face was level with her own and she held her tiny hands up to his eyes, a soft green glow overtaking them as soothing chakra poured into his eyes. "There, that should help."

Itachi closed his eyes and smiled softly, seeming mildly amused. "I forgot that you knew iryouninjutsu."

"Only a little." Koharu said with a shrug, "I haven't studied it in-depth, but... Chakra control comes fairly easily when you can literally see your own flow of chakra, so Papa taught me the Mystic Palm Technique."

"Wait, she's blind, but she can see the flow of chakra?!" Madara, who had now taken on the persona of "Tobi" exclaimed in surprise.

"Her Kekkei Genkai is normally a visual prowess." Orochimaru remarked calmly, "It seems that in the absence of functional vision, her natural sensory abilities bypass her optic nerve to provide her with a mental image of the chakra of those around her. I was intrigued when I first learned of this shortly before I left Konoha."

"You say that as if it's abnormal, but the same is true of anybody who possesses the Shinjitsugan if they close their eyes or are in a place where it's too dark to see." Koharu stated matter-of-factly. "The only thing that's exceptional in my case is that I awakened it at an extremely early age to compensate for my lack of vision." She then added in a mutter, "For all the good it does to be able to see people and not walls..."

"At any rate, her mastery of Mystic Palm at such a young age is proof that she can _become_ useful." Orochimaru continued without acknowledging Koharu's statement, "Combined with her ability to read those around her, she may one day be very useful indeed." At that point, Koharu ducked back behind Itachi's legs, making her dislike of the snake-man quite clear.

"Well, whatever." Itachi's new partner Juzo said with a shrug, "As long as she doesn't get in the way of our missions, I don't really care."

"Agreed." Pain, the leader of Akatsuki remarked, which basically ended the discussion.

病

"Funny, she was talking earlier, but she's hardly said a word since." Juzo remarked as Itachi and Koharu followed him through a field. It was true that since the matter of her remaining with Itachi had been decided, Koharu had scarcely spoken at all.

"Earlier she was remarking on facts pertaining to her abilities or the condition of my eyes." Itachi noted nonchalantly, "But she's probably learned the hard way that it's best to keep her thoughts and opinions about things to herself."

"I get the feeling that what you really mean is that she learned to keep other people's thoughts to herself." Juzo remarked. Itachi and Koharu said nothing, because he wasn't entirely wrong. "Well, whatever. Let's find a place to spend the night. Hope she doesn't mind sleeping outdoors."

"There are no walls to run into outside, so no, I don't." Koharu remarked flatly, causing Juzo to laugh slightly at her bluntness.

She had, as noted before, been mostly quiet the rest of the day as they set up to camp out, and had gone to sleep without much fuss, which was why Itachi was somewhat surprised when she carefully woke him later that night.

"Sensei." She whispered quietly, trying not to wake Juzo in the process.

Itachi opened his eyes and looked at her. "What is it? Do you need to...?"

"No. I can do that by myself." She remarked calmly, "I want to talk to you. But not here. Let's go a little ways so he won't hear."

Itachi silently wondered whether she was trying not to disturb Juzo, or if she simply did not want him to hear what she had to say, but he nonetheless got up and followed her a little ways, until they were out of earshot. "What is it?"

"I thought perhaps I should give you my thoughts on the members of Akatsuki that we met today."

"I'm listening."

"Well, Orochimaru is creepy, but you already knew that, I'm sure. Sasori is just as creepy, in my opinion. I get the feeling that he has no value for life, at all. Madara is... well... I'm not even sure he understands what it means to tell the truth. For that matter, I'm not sure that he even knows who he is anymore... Kakuzu is beyond greedy and also a psychopath... Konan-san... I think she's actually kind deep down, and I can tell that she cares deeply for Pain, as if they were siblings, but she carries a deep sadness within her... It's almost as if... no, perhaps I shouldn't say it out loud. As for Pain himself, I... can't really get a read on him, and I mean that literally."

"And Zetsu?"

"He's the most dangerous of all."

"What about Juzo?" Itachi asked her, concerned above all about the person he was working with for the time being.

"I think he's actually the most trustworthy one out of the lot." Koharu remarked calmly, "He is a shinobi in the most professional sense. At the very least, I don't get the feeling that he would try to use you or kill you for no reason, which is more than I can say for any of the others besides Konan-san."

"That's reassuring." Itachi remarked, "It's easier to work with someone who conducts himself like a shinobi and that I don't have to worry about stabbing me in the back."

"That's true, but you have to be careful around the others." Koharu said, "Most of them are looking to take advantage of one another in some way."

"You should be careful as well. Don't let your guard down around them."

"Don't worry about that." Koharu said with a shrug, "I couldn't even if I tried."

* * *

Okay, so this is a new story that I came up with at random. It is, as noted, a slight AU, and Koharu and her father are alternate versions of characters that appear in my canon stories, but they have slightly different names than their originals. Don't ask where I came up with this or why. Even I don't know. ;


	3. The Akatsuki

Itachi stood in a wheat field with Koharu, on a road where his first mission for the Akatsuki would take place. Suddenly Jūzō joined them, shoving the end of his sword into the ground.

"Do you know a shinobi named Might Dai?" The former Kirinin asked.

"I know a Might Guy." Itachi replied mildly.

Jūzō sighed, "Well that's his brat from that time. I was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Hidden Mist. Thanks to Might Dai, the seven of us got cut down to three. Who could have expected that scuzzy bearded jerk would use Taijutsu like that?"

"Might Guy is even better at Taijutsu." Koharu remarked, "He's famous for it."

Jūzō glanced at her, "Is that so?" His gaze shifted to Itachi, "Anyway, I wanna make something clear... I could care less about your reasons for joining Akatsuki. I don't even want to hear your reason. It doesn't matter why I joined either. And it's okay if you don't want to know." When Itachi didn't acknowledge him, he turned around. "Listen to me!" He exclaimed while swinging his large sword at Itachi, stopping just short of his neck. Itachi didn't flinch. "There's something I need to ask you. And... it's about your ninjutsu specialties." He lowered his sword and shoved the end into the ground again. "As you can see, I use this Executioner's Blade and cut up enemies. So? What about you?"

"Genjutsu, Katon, and Shuriken Jutsu." Itachi said plainly.

"You're awfully humble!" Jūzō remarked, "Former ANBU Uchiha Itachi, Itachi of the Sharingan, the Clan-Killer Itachi... People throw around many nicknames for you... you're notorious." Itachi turned and looked at him, piercing him with the gaze of the Sharingan.

"It's only been two days..." Koharu remarked quietly, and Jūzō looked at her.

"What about you, kid? I know you're not an actual member of this unit, but can you do anything besides Mystic Palm?"

"My training has been relatively limited, but... I use Juuken Taijutsu, and I am a sensory type with a wide range and the ability to read people's chakra to determine various things about them." Koharu answered.

"Oh, Juuken?" Jūzō asked with interest, "Isn't that the Taijutsu style of the prestigious Hyūga Clan of Konoha? How did you come to learn it?"

"The Mayonaka descended from the Hyūga, so we also inherited that style."

"Heh. Well I guess on missions like this one, those sensory abilities of yours will be useful for scouting from a distance." Jūzō said before turning his gaze back toward Itachi, "Let's decide on our formations. You'll launch a preemptive attack with your genjutsu, shuriken jutsu, or whatever's your specialty. Then I'll jump in, and you'll back me up. That will be Formation B."

"And A is?" Itachi replied.

"We each do things our own way." Jūzō said.

Itachi turned away from him, "Understood."

"One word of warning:" Jūzō added, "Don't take any opponent for granted."

"Understood." Itachi replied again before looking down at Koharu, "Koharu, scan the area and see if you can detect our target."

"Right." Koharu said, turning and focusing her power. "They're still about... five kilometers... away..." She suddenly swayed and collapsed, although Itachi caught her.

"Koharu!" He said in concern.

"I'm all right." She assured him. "Just a little tired from using chakra to expand my range."

"Just how far can you see, kid?" Jūzō asked incredulously.

"My limit is approximately twenty kilometers in all directions, but that's only when I actively mold my chakra to do so." Koharu answered as she took a small bag out and retrieved a round ball from it, "Most of the time, I'm aware of things within one kilometer of my person. However, even that level puts a constant strain on my chakra." She bit into the ball and carefully consumed it before continuing, "Ordinarily, users of the Shinjistugan can focus their vision in one direction using their eyes. Expanding the range of our abilities in all directions requires considerably more chakra. However, because I can't see, I'm unable to concentrate it in a single direction. In addition, most Shinjistugan users also only actively use their abilities when necessary, and otherwise rely on a more passive awareness. However, because I use the Shinjistugan to compensate for my lack of eyesight, my abilities are only in a passive state when I sleep. That's why I carry these food pills with me; to replenish my chakra."

"How many of those do you have?" Itachi asked.

"Enough to last a week at best." Koharu replied, "But that depends on how often you need me to extend my range like that."

"And where the heck are we supposed to get more?" Jūzō asked.

"My grandparents in Yugakure can supply us with them." Koharu replied, getting back to her feet. "I'd better get out of your way."

"Can you tell us anything about the enemy?" Itachi asked her.

"None of them are shinobi, from what I can tell." Koharu remarked, "But there do appear to be a few guards. I can't tell what kind of weapons they are carrying, but the chakra reserves of the guards suggests that even if they are not shinobi, they can use chakra to some degree. There's maybe ten in the whole party, including the target."

"All right." Itachi said with a nod, "Go hide up ahead while we take care of them."

"Right." Koharu said with a nod, "Oh, but, I would prefer not to witness the battle, so I'm going to be about 1.5 kilometers away, and I'll be hiding in the wheat, so you may need to use the Sharingan to find me."

"Then take this." Itachi said while handing Koharu a small whistle, "Use it to signal me if you are in trouble."

"Right." Koharu said with a nod, taking the whistle and then hurrying past Jūzō to go hide.

"Heh, instead of a two-person cell, I feel like this is more of a two-and-a-half-person cell." Jūzō remarked.

病

When their mission had been completed, Itachi and Jūzō set off in search of Koharu.

"Where could that kid have gone?" Juzo wondered.

"She said she was going to go about 1.5 kilometers, so she should be somewhere around here." Itachi said.

"You don't think she got attacked and knocked out before she could use that whistle, do you?" Jūzō asked.

"It's basically impossible to sneak up on her." Itachi remarked. He walked through the wheat a bit and found Koharu sleeping on the ground.

"Impossible to sneak up on, huh?" Jūzō asked dubiously.

Itachi didn't reply. Instead, he reached down and gently shook Koharu's shoulder. "Koharu, wake up."

The child responded with a yawn as she opened her eyes, "Hi Sensei. Did you finish your mission?" She rubbed her eyes as she sat up, "I knew the traveling party of the target wasn't in any kind of hurry, so I took a nap to help restore my chakra."

"I think that might be letting your guard down too much, kid." Jūzō told her.

"Don't worry about it." Koharu remarked, "My sensory abilities are passively active even when I'm sleeping. If I sensed anything dangerous, I would've woken up immediately and well before it reached me."

"I would think we'd qualify as dangerous." Jūzō deadpanned.

"I mean anything that intends to harm me." Koharu replied as she stood up, "A kidnapper, a viper, anything. Though I can't fathom who would want to kidnap a blind orphan."

"You'd be amazed, kid." Jūzō remarked while putting his blade over his shoulder, "Anyway, let's go. We have another mission to take care of."

病

A few hours later, the three of them arrived at the destination for their next mission. Itachi picked Koharu up and set her down on a large, flat rock.

"Do not move from here." He told her firmly.

"I take it then that the ravine below us is actually a river?" She asked.

"Yes." Itachi replied, "Wait here for us. If you sense anybody coming, use the whistle that I gave you."

"Right, Sensei."

"What's the thing with her and rivers?" Jūzō asked.

"Koharu cannot see bodies of water, only the ground at the bottom of them, or, if she's lucky, lifeforms swimming in them." Itachi explained, "I'm not sure if she knows how to swim or not, but I know that her lack of awareness of where the surface is prevents her from using her chakra to walk on water."

"Yeesh. That kid wouldn't last five minutes in my village."

"I don't intend on ever taking her anywhere near your village." Itachi said plainly.

"That's a good plan." Jūzō agreed, "Keep her out of the Land of Waves while you're at it. She'd probably walk right off a dock or something."

"That's probably true."

A while later, the two of them rejoined Koharu on the rock and watched as the bridge they'd just sabotaged blew up. However, since Koharu could see neither the bridge nor the explosion, she was rather startled by the sound.

"What was that?!" She asked in alarm.

"We didn't tell you?" Jūzō replied, "Our mission here was to blow up a bridge."

"Next time, warn me! I can't see explosive tags!"

Jūzō looked up at Itachi, "Good luck keeping this one's head attached. At any rate, there's no reason to wonder who in the world would pay us to do such dirty work either."

病

"That's what the Akatsuki is all about." Jūzō said later that night as the three of them sat around their campfire.

"Our leader, Pain, said the Akatsuki was going to rule the world." Itachi remarked.

"That won't be for a long time." Jūzō replied, "We first need to amass money and power." Itachi made no reply, simply staring into the fire. "Speak of the devil, he's summoning us." Jūzō said suddenly. Both he and Itachi activated the jutsu used by the Akatsuki to hold meetings over long distances. Koharu activated it as well, having been taught it for the purpose of remaining informed.

The three of them appeared as silhouettes in the meeting place, along with the other members.

"So Itachi-kun, have you gotten used to the Akatsuki?" Orochimaru asked, "How would you feel about changing partners and teaming up with me?"

"Hey, hey, we're just getting our formation down." Jūzō said in annoyance. "Don't try to steal him."

"I second changing partners..." Sasori remarked, "There's an aspect called compatibility..."

"I wish our leader would put a bit more thought into this." Orochimaru agreed.

"You're one to talk, you darn snake!" Sasori exclaimed in annoyance.

A split second later, Zetsu appeared, along with Kakuzu and his partner. "Thanks to your work, Akatsuki's reputation is growing in the underworld." Pain began, "The jobs we're getting are becoming bigger in scale, which means higher compensation as well. But that's only just a step. And the Akatsuki is ready to move on to the next step... and those are the Bijū."

"Bijū?!" Koharu exclaimed in concern.

"Koharu." Itachi said firmly.

"Ah, sorry..." She said quietly.

"There're supposed to be nine of 'em. Are those the Bijū?" Kakuzu's partner asked.

"The Five Great Ninja Nations harbor most of them." Pain explained, "But the whereabouts are unknown for a few of them. Those who aren't on a job will try to locate them."

"So we just have to locate them?" Kakuzu asked.

"For now." Pain replied.

"What will you do with them eventually?" Orochimaru asked.

"We'll hunt down and collect every Bijū." Pain told him.

"And then?" Orochimaru inquired.

"They'll act as our deterrents in our quest for world domination." Pain said.

"The Bijū, huh?" Orochimaru said, "It seems to me that there are lots of other ways..."

"There's no mistake in the leader's reasoning." Zetsu growled.

"Here are the missions." Pain said, changing the subject abruptly, "Jūzō... you'll handle the request from the Land of Water."

"Isn't there another mission we can do?!" Jūzō exclaimed in disgust.

"You're familiar with the territory." Pain told him. With that, the meeting ended.

"This is ridiculous." Jūzō muttered as they opened their eyes. "I never wanted to go back to that depressing place."

"We'll have to take Koharu to her grandparents in Yugakure first." Itachi said, "I'd prefer not to take her anywhere near the border."

"Yeah, good thinking." Jūzō said with a nod, "We definitely can't take her on this one."

"The Bijū..." Koharu said softly, clasping her hand to her chest.

"What is it, Koharu?" Itachi asked.

"No, it's nothing." Koharu replied with a shake of her head, "Konohagakure... is no longer the place where I belong." She slipped down from the rock she was sitting on, "We leave in the morning, right? Then I'm going to sleep." Itachi watched her with concern as she lied down on the ground and curled up. He knew what was troubling her.

Back in Konoha, Koharu had been close with Uzumaki Naruto, the Jinjuriki of the Kyuubi. Her father had taken Naruto in and raised him alongside Haru, so they were basically siblings. It was only natural that she was worried.

病

_"Naruto! Hinata-chan!" Koharu called cheerfully as she ran up to her surrogate brother and her best friend._

_"Yo! Neechan!" Naruto replied just as cheerful._

_"Good afternoon, Koharu-chan." Hinata greeted politely. She was far more reserved than Naruto, but Koharu could tell that she was happy to see her nonetheless._

_"Do you guys wanna go play together?" Koharu asked. She'd been waiting all day for them to get out of class at the Academy._

_"Sure!" Naruto said happily._

_"That sounds fun." Hinata said with a nod, "Oh, but, Chichiue would like for you to spar with me later."_

_"Sure thing! I'm always happy to help you grow stronger, Hinata-chan. Naruto, if you want, I'll help you with training later today too."_

_"Yes! Thank you, Neechan!" The boy exclaimed._

_"Let's go play in the woods!" Koharu exclaimed._

_"...But you know, the Academy sure is tough... I can't get the jutsu right and I'm always failing at paper tests." Naruto complained as the three of them walked through the forest of Konoha._

_"But, your Taijutsu is pretty good, Naruto-kun." Hinata encouraged._

_"Thanks Hinata. But it's hard to believe that when I'm always getting beaten by Sasuke." Naruto replied._

_"That isn't your fault, Naruto." Koharu told him, "Sasuke-san has had his parents and brother to teach him basically since he could walk. You've had to learn mostly on your own, which makes it harder, since Papa has to work so much. In fact, considering that you have to do it by yourself, I'd say you're doing pretty good. But if you want me to help you study for your next test, I'd be happy to."_

_"Really?!" Naruto exclaimed, "Great! Thanks Neechan! You always manage to explain things in a way that makes more sense to me."_

_Koharu giggled, "But you know, the reason you have trouble with jutsu is probably because you have trouble controlling your chakra. Improved control makes jutsu easier. Here, I'll show you." She turned and walked over to a nearby tree and began walking up the side of it, causing Naruto and Hinata to gasp in amazement._

_"That's awesome, Neechan! How are you doing that?!" Naruto asked._

_Koharu giggled, "I'm using my chakra to make my feet stick to the tree." She explained while hanging upside down on a branch, "Papa says that this is an advanced technique that they don't usually teach at the Academy, but that's it's easier for me because I can see my own flow of chakra." She let herself fall and landed on her feet, "Naruto, part of your problem is that you have a whole lot of chakra. That's not a bad thing, but having such large amounts of it makes controlling it more difficult."_

_"How much more chakra can I possibly have than my classmates?" Naruto asked skeptically._

_"A lot." Koharu said flatly, "The members of the Uzumaki Clan are famous for their large chakra reserves. The Mayonaka descended from the Uzumaki, so we tend to have pretty large reserves too, but since the use of visual prowess tends to consume chakra pretty heavily, our reserves aren't more than we can handle like yours."_

_"So what, are you saying I'm just doomed?!" Naruto asked, unsure whether to be angry or not._

_"No such thing. I said it's more difficult for you, not impossible. If you focus your training on improving your chakra control, you'll have an easier time learning new jutsu." She looked up at the tree, "That said, this technique might be a bit much for you right now. It's not something most kids our age can do. When I help you with your training, we'll start with something easier."_

_"Man, they totally should've let you into the Academy!" Naruto said in annoyance. "You can do stuff the rest of us can't! I bet you could kick Sasuke's butt!"_

_"I also walk straight into walls and fall down stairs." She said bluntly, "I'm pretty sure you'll make a better Shinobi than I ever will. Besides, I have no interest in fighting Sasuke-san. He can be a little arrogant, but he doesn't make a point of rubbing his talent in other people's faces. Besides, he has his own problems that you can't begin to understand. It's not like that time with Neji."_

_Naruto grinned and giggled, "You really did kick **his** butt! Serves him right for being mean to Hinata." At this, Hinata blushed._

_Koharu giggled, "Well never mind all that for now! Let's go play!"_

_"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, running off with Hinata. Koharu prepared to follow them, but then stopped when she sensed somebody behind her. Two shinobi suddenly moved to attack her._

_"Koharu!" Suddenly her father was behind her, shielding her from the attack. Her eyes widened in horror as he fell to the ground and his chakra disappeared._

_"Papa!"_

_"You are a threat to the Hidden Leaf." One of the ninja told her._

_"Root will eliminate all threats." The other added._

_Koharu trembled. Where was Hinata's bodyguard, who usually followed them at a distance? For that matter, she couldn't sense Naruto and Hinata anymore either. "Somebody! Somebody help me!"_

"Koharu! Wake up!"

Koharu gasped and awoke with a start. Itachi was leaning over her, his hand on her shoulder. She could tell by his chakra that he was worried. Her eyes filled with tears, and then she abruptly sat up and threw herself into Itachi's arms, clinging to his cloak and burying her face in his chest as she cried. Itachi was momentarily stunned, but he slowly wrapped his arms around the child and held her close in an attempt to soothe her.

"It's all right." He assured her, "It was just a nightmare. You're safe."

She shook her head as she clung to him, "I don't belong anywhere, Itachi-sensei... There is no place that I belong. Not anymore."

Itachi's heart swelled with sadness. Certainly, he could understand why she felt that way. After all, he no longer had a place where he belonged as well. Uncertain of how to reassure her, he simply held her close and said, "It's okay. You'll be all right."

* * *

For the time being, I am kind of just following what happens with Itachi while he is a member of Akatsuki in the anime because later in the story, when we start to enter what happens in the manga and stuff, I'll have to jump around a lot. ;


	4. Vision Problems

Koharu walked alongside Itachi as they approached Yugakure, clinging to the sleeve of his cloak. Suddenly, she looked up and dashed forward. "Hey, hey!" Jūzō called in alarm, but Koharu ignored him.

"Obaachan! Ojiichan!" She called while making a beeline for the nearest ryokan.

Itachi's eyes widened in alarm, "Hey, Koharu, you're about to—!"

"Ow!" Koharu exclaimed as ran into the side of the building, having missed the entrance entirely. Itachi sighed.

An elderly woman rushed out, her eyes widening with shock and then filling with tears. "Koharu-chan?!" She exclaimed, her voice filled with relief.

Koharu stopped rubbing her nose and turned her face toward the woman, "Obaachan!"

"Oh! Koharu! You're safe!" The woman exclaimed as she hugged Koharu tightly, "When we got word from Konoha that you had disappeared and that your father was... W-We thought the worst!"

Koharu clung to her grandmother's kimono, "I'm all right, Obaachan, but... well... it's a long story..."

Suddenly her grandmother looked up as she noticed Itachi and Jūzō. "Uchiha... Itachi?!" She exclaimed in alarm, hugging her granddaughter closer to her, but Koharu pulled away.

"It's not what you think, Obaachan! Itachi-sensei _saved_ me when Papa died!" The child exclaimed. Her grandmother looked at her in confusion, then at Itachi again.

"May we come in?" Itachi asked, and she nodded slowly.

病

"So Shinji's murder was ordered by one of the higher-ups in Konoha?!" Koharu's grandfather exclaimed when Itachi had informed them of all that had happened.

"Yes." Itachi said quietly, "At his request, Koharu has been traveling with me to ensure her safety. However, my next mission is in the Land of Water. It's too dangerous to bring her. That's why I would like to leave her here for a day or two."

"Wouldn't it be safer for her to just stay here permanently?" Her grandmother asked, but Itachi shook his head.

"The man responsible for her father's death knows about you two. Koharu didn't sense anyone of concern when we arrived, but if she stayed here long term, sooner or later, one of his subordinates might show up."

"He has a point, dear." Her grandfather said to his wife, "We wouldn't have a chance at protecting her."

"For your own safety, you can't tell anyone about this." Itachi added, "If word somehow got back that you know the truth about what happened..."

"That man would kill us in order to silence us." Koharu's grandfather acknowledged.

"Exactly." Itachi said with a nod, "I should be back in a day or two. Koharu, don't go outside while I'm gone, and don't interact with the clientele either. It's too dangerous."

"Right, Sensei."

病

That night, Koharu was sleeping when she was awoken by Pain calling a meeting, and she sighed before sitting up and activating the jutsu, inexplicably appearing alongside Itachi as usual, despite being nowhere near him in reality.

"Biwa Juzo is dead." Pain stated flatly.

"Eh?!" Koharu exclaimed in surprise. He decided to open this meeting with _that_?!

"Oh my, and he was your teammate, Itachi-Kun." Orochimaru remarked.

"He was killed by the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi." Itachi replied in a businesslike manner. If either he or Orochimaru noticed Koharu glaring at the snake-man, they didn't acknowledge it.

"Which means you took on the Mizukage and came out of it alive." Orochimaru said with an impressed tone.

"Another one of us is dead." Pain pointed out, catching Koharu's attention. Come to think of it... where was Kakuzu's partner?

"Rather than being killed by the enemy, he was killed by friendly fire." Zetsu stated with annoyance.

Kakuzu directed an annoyed glance at the creature, "He was just too slow."

"Let everyone here be the judge of that." Zetsu said before the incident appeared in everyone's minds. While Kakuzu's partner was crossing blades with an opponent, Kakuzu had attacked them both using Katon: Zukokku.

Koharu gasped in shock and fell to her knees, holding her head with one hand. Itachi looked at her with concern, but said nothing.

"Done in bad faith." Sasori said.

"Sounds like it was on purpose." Orochimaru added.

"He should've just dodged it." Kakuzu said nonchalantly.

"You ignored your partner, didn't you?" Orochimaru asked while crossing his arms.

"So what?" Kakuzu asked.

"You wanted to kill him, didn't you?" Orochimaru questioned.

"So what?" Kakuzu asked again.

"Oh nothing." Orochimaru said uncaringly, "It just seems to happen a lot."

"Tch. The Akatsuki works in two-man cells." Pain pointed out, "What will you do, Kakuzu? Will you team up with Itachi, who's also lost his partner?" Koharu couldn't stop her whimper, but it apparently went unheard.

"As long as he and the brat don't irritate me." Kakuzu said while jabbing a thumb in Itachi's direction.

"I wouldn't know how to cater to your moods." Itachi remarked. He was purposefully leaving Koharu, who was still on the ground, clutching her stomach, out of the equation for now.

"What the heck did you say?" Kakuzu said in annoyance, "Then let's team up and I'll show you." In the back of her mind, Koharu thought that even _she _wouldn't know how to cater to this guy's moods, but she wisely chose not to remark upon that.

"Wait, I'll team up with Itachi-kun." Orochimaru said. This time, Koharu managed to avoid an outward reaction, but she still felt like throwing up at the suggestion.

"Are you trying to make a fool out of me?!" Sasori exclaimed in annoyance.

"...The Akatsuki needs to find some new members." Pain remarked, "We'll put this issue on hold until we do."

Koharu opened her eyes as the meeting ended, and then she immediately got up and ran for the bathroom in order to relieve her stomach, which had been rebelling since seeing the footage of Kakuzu attacking his partner. It wasn't the simple fact that he had killed his partner in cold blood that had her feeling so ill; it was the fact that she had actually _seen_ it. Up until now, Koharu had only ever seen the world around her as a series of chakra signatures, but the images of what had happened had been transferred directly to her mind, allowing her to see it the same way anyone else would. Needless to say, it was not an enjoyable first experience with normal sight. When she had emptied her stomach, she drank some water to refresh herself, and then tried to go back to sleep. After about an hour, however, she gave up and found her way to her grandparents' room.

"Ojiichan..." She called softly, shaking her grandfather a little to rouse him. The older man muttered softly and then woke up.

"Koharu-chan? What's the matter?" He asked.

"I can't sleep." Koharu told him. "Will you please teach me more about iryouninjutsu?"

"Koharu-chan, sweetie, it's _three_ in the morning." Her grandfather protested.

"I'm sorry..." Koharu said, "But I really can't sleep."

Her grandfather sighed, "Why not?" Maybe there was something he could do to fix her insomnia so they could both go back to bed.

"...I keep having nightmares..." She replied.

"...Oh, all right..." Her grandfather said reluctantly, getting out of bed and taking her to the kitchen. He assumed that she'd just been having nightmares about her father's death, which would not be uncommon, and Koharu was not about to tell him the real reason.

病

Late the next morning, Itachi returned to the ryokan. Koharu's grandmother greeted him with an air of concern.

"What's wrong?" Itachi asked.

"Mm, Koharu-chan woke up in the middle of the night last night and asked Miro to teach her more about iryouninjutsu." The woman explained, "It seemed she was having nightmares and couldn't sleep. She finally passed out from exhaustion around 6am."

Itachi sighed, wishing he'd been able to check on Koharu directly after the meeting. "I'm sorry for the trouble."

"No, there's no need to apologize." Her grandmother replied with a shake of her head, "I'm just a bit worried about her. But I can't thank you enough for looking after her, Itachi. Do you need to leave right away? If not, it might be better to wait until she wakes up."

"I don't have anything pressing to do, so I'll wait."

病

Koharu muttered softly as she opened her eyes a bit later, before quickly becoming aware of Itachi's chakra in the inn. She got up and made her way to the kitchen where he was waiting as quickly as she could. "Sensei!"

Itachi looked up from the tea that her grandmother had served him, "Koharu. How are you feeling? You... didn't look too well last..."

"Forget me, what happened to your eye?!" She suddenly screamed, her attention focused on his right eye. "It looks almost like... like it hemorrhaged or something!"

Itachi sighed. There really was nothing that he could get past this girl. "I guess it did, in a sense." He admitted, "I had to use the Mangekyou Sharingan to escape from the Mizukage last night, and it started bleeding."

"That can _not_ be normal." Koharu insisted as she approached him, "I get that the Mangekyou Sharingan places strain on the optic nerve, but it shouldn't cause you to bleed! There must be some kind of underlying cause..." She began scanning his body, searching for signs that might indicate the reason.

"Like what?" Itachi asked curiously, vaguely amused by her intelligent speech and the way she was talking like a full-fledged doctor at age eight.

"I don't know." She admitted. "But nerve damage is usually caused by damage to the blood vessels, not the other way around! That's why I was born blind. I suppose it's technically more accurate to say that I lost my sight at birth." When Itachi knelt down, she held her hand up and began healing his eye, frowning in thought as she searched for an answer. "Although it shouldn't cause bleeding, pain caused by a secondary source can make it more difficult to fight illness. Simply put, the human brain doesn't always have the capacity to both respond to pain and direct the immune system at the same time. That, and, at severe enough levels, pain alone _can_ cause death. Of course, that depends partially on the patient's threshold for pain, as well as the origin. Some parts of the body feel pain more easily than others. For example, the index fingers are more sensitive to pain than all other fingers."

"So what would you suggest?" Itachi asked her. He wasn't simply humoring her. The child was obviously gifted in medicine, despite her age.

Koharu pursed her lips in thought, "I can't determine a point of origin at this point to get an idea as to the cause. Your chakra is kind of... static-y, so to speak. It might be best to start with something to relieve the pain in your eyes, and then go from there. I'll ask Ojiichan what he would recommend, as well as for some medical texts that might be useful in finding a diagnosis." She finished her task and carefully headed off to find her grandfather.

病

"All right, so we'll go to the Howling Wolf Village you spoke of and obtain the medicine you recommended." Itachi said as he stood at the entrance to the ryokan with Koharu later on.

"Thank you for the materials, Ojiichan." Koharu added.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." Miro replied, "But how do you intend to read them? Neither of you can see all that well."

"We'll figure something out." Koharu said with a shrug before setting off with Itachi.

"What topics did you ask him for scrolls and books on?" Itachi asked they headed for the main road.

"Let's see..." Koharu began thoughtfully, "I asked for things about the effects of physical and emotional stress on the body, neurology, neuropathy, pathology, and ophthalmology to start."

"I see." Itachi replied with a light smile.

"But you know... I need to do more than just hone my medical skills while we travel." Koharu began pragmatically, "I can't allow my taijutsu skills to wane, and I should probably start learning ninjutsu as well. I already know that I _can_ use Suiton and Fuuton, but I don't actually know how. I should probably learn shuriken jutsu too. Genjutsu, of course, is a moot point in my case."

"How will you learn shuriken jutsu when you can't see a target?" Itachi asked, wondering if she had considered that.

"I've been thinking about that." She answered as they exited onto the main road. "I think if you were to carve a target into the bark of a tree, the slight disruption to the tree's chakra would allow me to see it. It would be similar to a flesh wound on a human."

"I see." Itachi replied before bringing up what had been concerning him the night before, "Are you sure you're all right? You seemed very... well, a bit disoriented last night."

Koharu stopped walking for a moment, momentarily caught off guard by the question before she continued walking alongside him, "I'm all right now. It's just that... Well... I've never _seen_ things like that before, and by that, I mean, the actual seeing part, not the event itself. I mean, if they're going to show me things the way everyone else sees them, I'd rather it be a field of flowers or something. That said, I definitely do _not_ want you to end up with either Kakuzu or Orochimaru as your new partner. Orochimaru is... creepy to say the least, and Kakuzu is... well... unstable, to put it mildly."

"Agreed, I don't want him as a partner either."

"But Orochimaru... he _wants_ something with you... He doesn't really want to be your partner, but... I'm not sure what his true goal is..." Koharu admitted, "Although... I think I did hear something from Papa before that that man is obsessed with Kekkei Genkai."

"Which makes him a threat to both of us." Itachi acknowledged.

Koharu nodded, "That reminds me... There was something... something wrong... when the people sent by Danzou came after Papa and I..."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked in concern.

"Their killing intent... it was only focused on Papa... they planned to do something different with me... I don't know what exactly. I just know that they planned on capturing me and taking me away somewhere." Koharu sighed in frustration and shook her head, "But I couldn't determine anything more than that. Contrary to popular belief, I can't actually read people's minds."

"You just know they wanted to capture you." Itachi reaffirmed, "I wonder if they were planning to take you into the Root?"

"No. Even Danzou doesn't think that a blind ninja has any use." Koharu said with a shake of her head, "In fact, I'm pretty sure that he adamantly opposed me being allowed to enter the Academy. And he wouldn't want a child that he can't manipulate anyway. Whatever it was he had planned, I'm pretty sure it wasn't directly related to the Foundation. He's the type of man who 'sacrifices' those he perceives to be a threat only if he can't find some other use for them..."

"Which would mean that whatever he'd been planning on, it wouldn't have been something that would've required you to be cooperative." Itachi acknowledged.

* * *

Yeah... If she weren't blind, Koharu would've made an excellent apprentice for Tsunade. Not that that would've really been an option when her teacher is a rogue ninja. The members of the Mayonaka Clan are usually not particularly strong in combat, but they are highly intelligent and tend to have excellent chakra control. Also, while she tends to speak only when necessary around the other members of Akatsuki, she speaks freely when she and Itachi are alone.

I grew up in the medical environment, but for those who did not, here are the definitions of the terms Koharu was using.

Hemorrhage: An event in which a blood vessel suddenly ruptures. It can happen for a variety of reasons, including: blood that is too thin, external pressure to the vessel, or internal pressure within the blood vessel. Hemorrhages usually happen as the result of a problem with the blood or the vascular system.

Neurology: The study of the brain and nervous system and problems that can affect them

Neuropathy: The more specific study of diseases affecting the brain and nervous system

Pathology: The general study of diseases

Ophthalmology: The study of the eyes and problems that can affect them. Normal eye doctors are only licensed in optometry. Ophthalmology is more advanced and in-depth. Ophthalmologists are medical doctors and can write prescriptions; optometrists cannot.


	5. The Village of Ravenous Wolves

"Are you sure you're all right with carrying me? I don't want to make you too tired." Koharu asked uncertainly as Itachi carried her up a set of stairs that ascended a mountainside.

"I'm fine, you don't weigh very much yet." Itachi assured her.

He continued up the stairs in silence for a while, before Koharu spoke, "It's so quiet here... but even so, this place is so vibrant and alive."

"Yeah." Itachi agreed, "I can't see things the way you see them, but the great many types of plants around us give this place a peaceful liveliness you wouldn't find anywhere else."

"The boatman said that the village we're going to demilitarized about a year ago. Do you know why?" Koharu asked. She was too young to be aware of such matters before.

"I'm not exactly sure." Itachi admitted. "Perhaps they grew tired of fighting battles and adopted a more peaceful way of living."

Koharu frowned, sensing Itachi's hopefulness upon saying that—she knew of his dream to put an end to all wars—but also sensing something else in the distance. "I wonder about that..." She said quietly. Itachi glanced at her in confusion before continuing forward. When he reached the top of the stairs, he set his young charge down and she took his hand as he led her toward the village up ahead. There were numerous stalls lining the road to the gate from this point.

"Come one, come all!" A vendor announced, "Our lycium barbarum is the raw material of war tonics! The tumeric is the coagulant used in Sunagakure!"

Koharu snorted in contempt, "I'll have to ask Sasori-san about that one. Why would a demilitarized village be selling war tonics anyway?"

"We have a multipurpose medicine here!" Somebody else called to Itachi as they suddenly ran from their stall to meet the pair. "Dab it on your wounds. If your little sister gets a cold, one teaspoon will be all she needs! Two teaspoons will cure a hangover! It's extracted from Mount Myoboku's toad oil and is a cure-all of every disease."

Koharu scoffed again, "Do we look like idiots to you?! Colds are viral and don't have a cure! Sensei isn't even old enough to drink! And there's definitely no such thing as a cure-all for every disease! Is that stuff even safe to consume?! And you should really get your eyes checked, because even _I_ know that he and I look nothing alike and I'm _blind_!" The vendor's eyes widened at the child's outburst and he quickly scampered away.

No sooner had the toad-oil vendor left than somebody else appeared before them and spoke to Itachi. "Hey dude! You look like a wreck! Those lines on your face are due to your stomach!"

"I was born with these lines." Itachi said flatly, causing the man to sweat-drop.

"Well, anyway, you still don't seem well. But don't worry! My crow-dipper works wonderfully! If you consume it with cordyceps fungus, you'll feel way better!"

"Consume this!" Koharu exclaimed before suddenly striking the man's stomach using Gentle Fist and sending him flying backwards, stunning the crowd. Koharu sighed in exasperation and glared at the other vendors, "Now, does anyone _else_ want to offer a completely random false diagnosis or try to sell us something of questionable content?!"

The crowd had frozen, but Itachi, seeing his student's reaction as problematic, gently grabbed ahold of her collar to pull her away. "Enough, Koharu." He warned her as he pulled her in the direction of the gate. Koharu huffed in frustration, but didn't protest.

"We don't discriminate against sick people in this village!" A man at the gate announced with a bullhorn, "We share our medicines with everyone! However, being that this is a neutral country, those who own forbidden weapons will be considered dangerous individuals and will be severely punished!"

"Maybe you should consider that pack of animals as dangerous." Koharu told the guard as she approached with Itachi, gesturing at the crowd behind her. "Honestly, doesn't this place have any laws about selling snake oil?!" The guard sweat-dropped and Koharu sighed, "Never mind. Where in this village can we find the Kodon Clan?"

"I can't imagine what you'd want with them, but... the Kodon Shrine is to the west of the village. Try there." The guard replied.

Koharu sighed in exasperation and turned her head toward Itachi, "Sensei, let's take the side streets. I won't be able to handle continuing down the main road like this."

Itachi nodded to his young charge and led her away from the main thoroughfare, leaving the guard utterly confused.

"What's the matter?" Itachi asked, wondering why Koharu was suddenly in such a foul mood.

"The people selling medicine along the road are all quacks, and when I asked about the Kodon Clan, the guard's chakra flared with hatred. The same kind of hatred that Naruto and I faced in Konoha. Hatred for things beyond our control." The little girl sighed sadly, "Isn't there at least one decent person in this town?" Suddenly the child stopped and directed her attention to the side of the road, "Hey, Sensei, what is this place?" She asked.

"Hm?" Itachi looked where Koharu was pointing, "It's a traditional cafe." He couldn't help but wonder why she had asked. Koharu couldn't even see buildings and there wasn't a particularly strong smell of food here.

"Then let's get something to eat while we're here." She said decisively, "You need to restore your energy after carrying me and this is your preferred type of store."

Itachi raised a brow at this, but nonetheless led his student inside. He suspected she had an ulterior motive, but also knew that, as young as she was, Koharu wasn't the type to do pointless things.

They walked in to find a young lady, presumably about Itachi's age, clearing a table. Upon hearing their footsteps, she looked up at the pair. "Oh!" She exclaimed while setting down her load and hurrying over to greet them. "Welcome to _Amai no Amai_. My name is... well, Amai. Please have a seat. I'll take your order whenever you're ready."

Itachi nodded and walked to a slightly secluded table and helped Koharu into her seat before taking his own and scanning the menu. "We'll both have some green tea." He told the young woman, "Chiffon cake will be fine for her. I'll take botchan dango with anko."

Koharu glared at Itachi sternly. "Sensei, you need more substance than that. Stairs or not, you just carried me up a mountain, and despite your claim about me being light, I know that I weigh close to 25 kilograms."

"Koharu, I'm fine." Itachi replied, but she crossed her arms.

"Forgive me, but who's the medic here?" When Itachi sighed in defeat, Koharu looked at the shopkeeper. "Some onigiri will be good. Sensei prefers konbu, but I like mine plain. I'll also take some red bean soup with dumplings and strawberry mochi if you have it."

The girl blinked in surprise, "Can you really eat all of that?" She asked.

"For reasons I won't go into, my chakra reserves require constant replenishing." Koharu answered, "So I have a very high metabolism and eat a great deal more than most children my age." She smiled wryly at that thought as the young woman nodded and headed to the kitchen.

"What is it?" Itachi asked as he noticed her expression.

"Oh I was just thinking..." Koharu replied, "Papa used to always complain about how much food Naruto and I would eat. He claimed that both of us were bottomless pits. But the one who can really put it away is Hinata-chan." She giggled, "If Naruto and I were bottomless pits, then her stomach is a black hole. I don't know where she puts it all!" Her eyes became clouded with sadness. "I miss them..."

Itachi frowned and reached over to pat her head sympathetically. At that moment, the shopkeeper came back with their food.

"Um, forgive my asking, but are you really a medic?" She asked Koharu.

"I learned about medicine from my father. I started when I was four, so I've been learning for four years now." Koharu answered, trying to prevent her emotions from leaking into her voice.

"Oh I see." The girl said, "That's really amazing. I know a boy from the Kodon Clan who is studying to become an herbalist, but he's a long way from getting his license."

"Wow, you mean they actually _have_ licenses here? I was beginning to think that this village was just full of quacks who don't actually know anything about the human body." Koharu deadpanned. The girl chuckled nervously and Koharu looked thoughtful, "You said he's from the Kodon Clan? Maybe you can help us then."

"Hm? How so?" Their hostess asked.

"We actually came to this place to buy medicine made using the Kodon Clan's Kotarō." Koharu explained.

"I see..." The young woman replied as she frowned thoughtfully, "However... Reishi-kun is only the same age as you. He may not be able to make what you're needing."

"If he knows how to make Kotarō, then that's enough." Koharu replied, "I can teach him the rest. This medicine could be created without Kotarō, but it wouldn't work as well."

"I see." The girl said, "Well then, after your meal, I'll be happy to take you—"

"Amai!" A voice called sharply, and the girl couldn't help but jump slightly before turning toward its owner.

"Oh! Lord Jiryuu!" She exclaimed as she rushed over to greet the man.

Itachi frowned at the unmistakable note of fear in her voice as she addressed the newcomer. He glanced at Koharu, who would have a better idea of exactly what the young woman was feeling, but her expression was unreadable. He suspected that, as time passed, he would be able to guess what she was thinking when she wore such an expression, but as of the moment, he didn't know her quite well enough.

"Welcome sir. How can I help you?" Amai asked, and Itachi couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Inspite of her friendly smile and polite posture, the girl's shoulders were visibly tense in the presence of this older man.

Lord Jiryuu, as Amai had called him, brushed past the young woman without answering her and approached Itachi and Koharu's table. "Pardon my interruption, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation just now. You say you've come to this village to obtain Kotarō?" Even though Koharu was the one who had been asking Amai about it, Jiryuu was directing his question at Itachi. Itachi's eyes were narrowed further, but he nodded slightly. The man chuckled as he reached into his kimono, "Well then, you're in luck. I happen to have some—"

"Save your breath." Koharu said flatly, "We won't be buying whatever counterfeit drug you're selling. We came here to buy _real_ medicine, not whatever imitation you carry."

Jiryuu gaped at her, "Wha—you're just a child! What would you know about—"

"I can spot a liar a mile away, somewhat literally." Koharu cut him off, "Whatever it is you're selling, it's not the Kotarō that we came here for. And your eagerness to sell this counterfeit means that you would probably profit highly from it, which means it's probably addictive and most likely dangerous to boot. Furthermore, you're blackmailing Amai-san, aren't you?" She added, "You're mad that she was going to take us to the real supplier instead of you. Her fear of you makes it obvious that you have some kind of hold over her. And you didn't 'just happen' to overhear our conversation. Somebody has been watching this shop since before our arrival. For that matter, somebody else was watching us from the moment we entered the village to when we set foot in this store. Though I may be physically blind, I can easily see the truth."

The man looked enraged and reached for Koharu, "Why you little—!" He was stopped by Itachi grabbing his wrist, the teenager leveling him with a deadly glare.

"You will not lay a hand on my student." The Uchiha warned. The man glared at him and jerked his arm free with a grunt.

"Your student has a pretty smart mouth on her." He said indignantly.

"And yet, you don't deny anything that she just said." Itachi replied evenly, "Even if she were not here to expose you, I would not have accepted what you were offering to sell. I'm not so foolish as to buy something without being able to verify its authenticity, especially with regards to medicine. For all I would know, your 'Kotarō' could actually be a poison intended to kill me."

"Huh?" Amai said in confusion, "Why would you be so quick to consider that scenario?"

Itachi glanced at her, "There isn't a shinobi alive who doesn't face that threat."

"The fact that you are shinobi means nothing!" Jiryuu exclaimed, "In case you haven't heard, possession of weapons is illegal in this country!"

"A skilled shinobi doesn't _need_ a weapon to be dangerous." Koharu said flatly, "Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu... any of these techniques can be used to kill somebody without so much as a kunai. There are even those of us who can form weapons using only our chakra."

Amai frowned, her eyes clouding over as she put a hand to her forehead. It was a movement that Koharu did not fail to notice.

Jiryuu evidently chose to ignore Koharu and glared at Itachi instead, "The members of my clan keep an eye out for newcomers to scout out potential customers. As for Amai, she happens to owe us money, so it's necessary to keep an eye on her."

"Pardon my rudeness, Lord Jiryuu, but that's entirely unnecessary." Amai said, "It's not as if I could skip town. Where would I go? I'm a thirteen-year-old girl with no family who dropped out of the training program five years before this village demilitarized. As inexperienced as I am with the world beyond the village, I'm smart enough to know that I could not survive in it on my own, and if I had money to hire someone to escort me to somewhere else, I wouldn't be in your debt to begin with."

Koharu narrowed her eyes at this. It wasn't that Amai was lying, but there was still something strange about her chakra when she said this.

Jiryuu looked over at Amai and smirked, "I suppose you're right about that, Amai. It's not like you have anybody to turn to. The only person who would bother with you is that Kodon brat, and he's hardly in a position to help you." Koharu's eyes narrowed further. Jiryuu clearly knew something that Amai did not.

"Enough." The little girl told him, gaining his attention, "Let us eat our meal in peace or we'll report you to the local authorities."

Jiryuu looked at her in annoyance, "On what charge?"

"False advertising, for one thing." Itachi said, "Attempting to swindle people for another. We came here for a particular type of medicine. You attempted to sell us a dangerous counterfeit whilst claiming that it was the real thing." Jiryuu seemed to a pale a little before nodding and heading out the door, although not before casting a warning glance at Amai.

Amai sighed quietly, "I apologize for that. I can't really do anything to stop him from coming in when he wants to."

"There's nothing to apologize for." Itachi replied as he went back to his food.

"It's not your fault." Koharu agreed, "He's the worst of swine. Taking advantage of your situation... preying upon ignorance... A man like him should be imprisoned." Her face became troubled, "They would never have allowed that kind of thing back home..." Amai looked confused, but Koharu continued as if she hadn't said that last part, "The debt isn't yours. It's your parents', isn't it?"

"How did you...?"

"You mentioned that you don't have a family. Since you despise that man, the fact that you owe him money is odd." Koharu explained, "Since he sells an addictive counterfeit drug, it's easy to realize that your parents probably fell prey to his scheme and that their addiction led to their deaths. When they passed away, he forced you to take responsibility for the money they owed. Most countries abandoned the concept of children being forced to repay their parents' debts after their deaths a long time ago, which means that there must be a reason that you can't go to the police about it."

Amai looked down, "You really see through everything, huh?" Itachi noticed tears lining her eyes as she spoke, "You're right. There's a reason that I can't go to the police. It's because it's my fault that my parents died..."

"What do you mean?" Koharu asked.

"My... my little sister became sick, but... We didn't have any money and... nobody was willing to treat her for free. Nobody except for Kodon Reishi... But like I said, he's the same age as you. He didn't really know what was wrong or how to help her. When she passed away, my grief overwhelmed me. In my despair, I threw the drugs into the lake. My parents drowned themselves trying to retrieve it."

"I would hardly say that's your fault." Koharu stated simply, "The adults of this village abandoned and betrayed you."

"Perhaps..." Amai said quietly, "But Lord Jiryuu said that if I tried to go to the police for help, he'd tell everyone that I murdered my parents, and they'll believe him over me."

The younger girl turned her head toward Itachi, "Sensei, how come grownups are so stupid?" Itachi frowned, seeing the pain in Koharu's eyes as she asked this question. He knew she was referring not just to the Howling Wolf Village, but to Konoha as well.

"I suppose that... as time goes on... their thought process becomes so complex that they begin to overthink things." Itachi replied slowly. He watched in surprise as Koharu climbed out of her seat and moved around the table to sit next to him.

"Sensei... don't ever become a grownup." She whimpered softly, clinging to Itachi's cloak and burying her face in his side. Itachi's face saddened as he stroked Koharu's hair, watching as she sobbed quietly into his cloak. Most people had said that he already thought like an adult by the time he was her age, but even so... the true meaning of her request was clear. She didn't want Itachi to ever become someone who would abandon the people who needed him the most, somebody who left a child like herself or Amai to fend for themselves. True, he had left Sasuke behind in Konoha, but he had received promise from the Hokage that his younger brother would be taken care of. Sasuke would never be like Koharu, forced to flee from her own home because of powers she never asked for, or like himself, forced to slay the people he loved because of a quarrel that he wanted no part of, nor would he ever be like Amai, left to fend for herself in a village of ravenous wolves.

"Don't worry, Koharu." Itachi told her gently, "I won't abandon you."

"Naruto..." Koharu whimpered before turning her face toward Itachi, "I'm worried about Naruto..." Itachi's eyes widened as she continued, "What's happened to him since that night? What did he find when he came home? Is anyone... even taking care of him now...?" Itachi's eyes softened in understanding as she continued. "It's my job... I'm supposed to protect him and maintain his seal... Nobody else in the village can do it... But I can't go back and he's... he's all alone..."

"Naruto-kun will be all right." Itachi assured her, "Sandaime will never allow anything to happen to him. I'm sure all of this has caused him pain, just like it has for you, but... Naruto-kun is strong. He won't allow something like this to crush him. I'm sure of it. Someday, he will become the Hokage." When Koharu seemed unconvinced, Itachi stroked her hair, "Don't worry. Naruto-kun is the brightest light in all of Konoha. He's a sun that will never lose its light."

"No..." Koharu said slowly, "Not a sun... He's a flame. That's what I've always thought about him. Naruto isn't as bright as the sun or hot-tempered like a pepper. That's how Papa described his parents. But Naruto... he's warm and comforting, like the flames of a campfire." Itachi nodded in agreement before she suddenly appeared troubled again. "But I'm the one who's supposed to make sure that he doesn't burn out control..."

"Don't worry..." Itachi said gently, "The Fourth Hokage's seal isn't that weak. He'll be all right."

Koharu contemplated this and then smiled up at him. "Yeah!"

病

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, what happened to the two of you?" Amai asked Itachi as she guided them to the place where Kodon Reishi lived. Koharu was walking a little ways ahead of them and Amai had lowered her voice so that the child wouldn't hear.

"Koharu and I were betrayed by the adults of our village, who feared our individual visual prowesses." Itachi answered, trying to keep his explanation as simple as possible. "I took her under my wing as her father's last request. He was murdered while trying to protect her from harm. However, the both of us have younger brothers there that we can't help but worry about."

"Oh?" Amai said in surprise, "I didn't think that Konoha was that kind of place. It has a reputation of being the most compassionate of shinobi villages."

"Even the most vibrant green tree has darkness in its roots." Itachi remarked, even though Amai would be unable to catch his reference in that statement. "Koharu's younger brother is actually the same age as her. He's only younger by a few months. His parents died when he was born, and Koharu's father, a relative of his mother, took Naruto-kun in."

"I take it he's a Jinchuuriki?" Amai asked. When Itachi cast her a questioning glance, she laughed a little, "I'm inexperienced with the world, but not totally uninformed. She mentioned that her brother had a 'seal' and their age roughly corresponds with what I've heard about the Kyuubi incident in Konoha."

Itachi nodded, quietly marveling at the girl's intelligence. Even in Konoha, only a handful of his peers had been able to analyze information so flawlessly. "Koharu's father was a specialist in fuinjutsu, and the only person who knew how to reinforce Naruto-kun's seal if it should weaken. Koharu has already learned many of her clan's hiden jutsu, and thus, she considers it her responsibility to watch over Naruto-kun, even though that's impossible now. Besides, he's her younger brother, and while the age difference may be slight, there is a noticeable difference in maturity. They've both grown up as outcasts, but Koharu is much stronger than her brother, while Naruto-kun is more than a little reckless. She's always considered it to be her job to keep him out of trouble and to patch him up when he gets into scrapes."

Amai laughed softly again, "That's called maternal instinct. Women such as ourselves have a natural inclination to watch over those younger than us."

病

Before long, the trio reached a small house behind the Kodon Shrine and Amai introduced them to Kodon Reishi, who was rather surprised by the reason for their visit.

"You know I'm not really an herbalist yet, right?" He asked Koharu.

"As long as you know how to compound medicine and can follow instructions, it will be fine." She assured him, "But you're the only person who can make Kotarō and the medicine won't work well without it."

Reishi sighed, "Oh all right. Come on in." He turned and walked into the house, momentarily stopping as a much younger child toddled up to him, babbling nonsensically.

"Nii-nii!" The child exclaimed, holding his arms up.

"Oh, Amai-san didn't tell us that you had a younger brother." Koharu said, even though she had sensed it long before they reached the house.

"This is Kina." Reishi replied as he picked his younger brother up and rested him on his hip. "I'll have to find a way to keep him busy while I fill your request."

Koharu seemed troubled, "The two of you are alone? Doesn't anybody help you?"

"To be honest, the villagers wouldn't mind if we both dropped dead." Reishi deadpanned, "But never mind that. What exactly are you needing anyway?"

"Eye drops to relieve the pain caused by Sensei's doujustu." Koharu replied, "And also a strong sedative. Something that can temporarily slow his flow of chakra."

Reishi frowned, "Both of those will require Coarse Kotarō, which has dangerous side effects. The eye drops will cause temporary blindness, and the sedative will cause a searing pain to the lungs and contaminate the blood."

"The blindness won't be a big problem." Itachi replied, "My vision is already weakening anyway."

"As for the latter," Koharu began, "I know of a way to remove the toxins to prevent further damage to his body. My grandpa in Yugakure taught me how to do it."

"Eh... It sounds like you're a great iryouninja even though you're only my age." Reishi said with interest, "Maybe someday, you'll even surpass the great Tsunade!"

"That would require being able to see things in a more normal sense." Koharu replied, "At any rate, we're also in need of something that I can administer daily to lower inflammation."

"Mm... anti-inflammatories don't make use of Kotarō, so I haven't learned anything about them yet." Reishi admitted.

"If it would be of any help..." Amai said, "I think I know of something that might be suitable. It's an herbal tea remedy that my mother taught to me."

"Oh? That treats inflammation too?" Reishi asked with interest.

"Yes." Amai said with a nod, "It's kind of an herbal equivalent to Ibuprofen, but none of the ingredients are poisonous in any way, so it doesn't pose any sort of risk to the kidneys."

"Amai-san, I think you know more about medicine then all of the vendors on Main Street combined." Koharu remarked with a grin, causing Amai to laugh slightly.

"I think everything's been decided then." Reishi said with a nod, "However, it will take a full week for me to make the Kotarō. Can you wait until then?"

"Yes, that's no trouble." Koharu said with a nod before turning to Amai, "Amai-san, in the meantime, we'll go back to your store so that you can compound the tea. However, I need to speak to Reishi-kun alone for a moment." Itachi and Amai both nodded and walked outside to wait for her. Koharu turned back toward Reishi. "I'm sorry to ask something so random, but... do you know anything about a genjutsu placed upon Amai-san?"

"Huh?" Reishi said in confusion, "Why would you ask that?"

"When she mentioned her childhood at the cafe, her chakra was temporarily disturbed. It's the same kind of disturbance caused by genjutsu." Koharu explained, "Jiryuu also seemed to know that what she was saying wasn't correct, and was taking advantage of it."

Reishi blinked and then sighed, "Amai-neechan doesn't know this, but... when the village declared neutrality, her father erased her memories of her training and replaced them with false memories using a genjutsu. He did it to protect her from the feeling that the time she'd spent training was futile, but it hasn't really protected her at all. Before he did that, she was really strong. I'm the only one that knows this, but... in a way, she saved the whole village by distracting Roen long enough for my father to seal him, although she only faced it to protect her younger sister. If she remembered what she can do, she'd be able to defend herself."

"And I take it that in turn, she was the only person who knew that your father sealed Roen inside of Kina-chan?"

"How did you...?"

"I sensed it when we came within a kilometer of this place." Koharu told him. "My own little brother is a Jinchuuriki, so I'm very familiar with the feeling of somebody who holds a second chakra inside of their body."

"...I see..." Reishi replied.

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone besides Sensei." Koharu said with a smile. "That's the last thing that the parasites of this village should know about."

"Thanks." Reishi said with an awkward smile.

病

When they had returned to Amai's shop, Koharu told Itachi about what she had learned while Amai prepared the tea.

"I see..." Itachi said quietly. "So she only thinks that she dropped out of the program..."

"Her father was probably trying to protect her, but I think it turned out to be the opposite." Koharu said, "Because she doesn't remember, she's basically defenseless and at that man's mercy. However, Sensei, with your visual prowess, you should be able to release the genjutsu."

Itachi frowned thoughtfully, "Would that really be the best idea though? Her father may have been trying to protect her from things that would be painful to remember..."

"As opposed to the painful memory of losing her entire family and thinking that it's her fault?" Koharu asked bluntly before shaking her head, "A shinobi is one who endures. Besides... Papa once told me that everything we experience holds an important lesson that we shouldn't forget. Amai-san can't remember those lessons as long as she's trapped in that illusion."

Itachi's frown deepened, but he nodded in understanding before looking up as Amai came forward with the finished tea mixture. "Here we go. It's best to take it cold if there's a fever, but otherwise, either way is fine."

Koharu nodded and Itachi stood up to face the young woman. "Amai-san." He said softly, just loud enough to get her attention.

"Huh?" Amai asked in confusion. "What is it, Itachi-san?" The moment she turned her head to look at him, her eyes met Itachi's Sharingan and she was instantly caught in his doujutsu, although in this case, Itachi was using it only as a means to unlock her true memories within her mind.

After a few minutes—although it probably seemed much longer to Amai and Itachi—Itachi released her from his Sharingan and she fell forward in shock, although the young man gently caught her and supported her.

"Forgive me." Itachi apologized, "Maybe you would've preferred that I hadn't done that."

Amai shook her head, "No. I'm grateful that you did." She assured him before closing her eyes as tears flowed down her cheeks, "I just don't understand. Why did my parents...?"

"They were trying to protect you." Itachi said gently, "They probably foresaw what their own dispositions would be after the village demilitarized and wanted to protect you from those feelings. They didn't want you to suffer from the feeling that all of your efforts in the years prior had been in vain."

"How foolish." Amai lamented, "As long as I was able to protect Adzuki that night, it would always be worth it." Itachi nodded in understanding and Amai gripped the sleeve of his cloak in frustration, "Besides, if I had been able to remember, maybe I could've protected them... maybe they and Adzuki would still be here."

"Perhaps." Itachi acknowledged, "But it might've turned out to be the opposite. The villagers might've come to fear your power and destroyed all four of you. In the end, at least you survived. Your parents and sister would prefer the way it is to the way it would've been. They would want at least you to live."

Amai took a deep breath to steady herself and then straightened up while meeting Itachi's eyes again, "Perhaps this is asking too much, but... I want you to tell me what happened to you. It's clear to me now that we are the same, and the burdens we carry are similar. You are so kind, Uchiha Itachi. That's why... I want to know how you came to be like me." Itachi's eyes widened slightly and Amai laughed with a bittersweet smile, "I told you before, I'm not totally uninformed. Your given name is Itachi and you come Konohagakure. I figured it out even before you revealed your Sharingan." She shrugged, "I just didn't care. I suppose I should, but I don't. It isn't good to judge others by your preconceptions of them. This village doesn't even bother with Bingo Books anymore and they've got things so backwards on who is trustworthy and who is not that bothering to worry about what they might think or say is a waste of time."

Itachi smiled wryly and sighed in resignation. "Very well. But it's a long story, so you might want to sit down."

"No." Koharu said suddenly, having remained quiet all this time, "Sensei, you need to lie down. Even though you weren't using the Mangekyō, the flow of your chakra has accelerated too much. You need to rest. You can tell Amai-san about what happened to us after you've settled into a bed."

Amai sighed in amusement and looked at Itachi, "Well, doctor's orders. Follow me. You can stay the night in my spare bedroom."

病

Koharu smiled softly to herself. After Amai had insisted that Itachi was not to blame for the destruction of his clan, the teenaged girl had wound up crying herself to sleep with her head upon Itachi's chest. Itachi, momentarily forgetting the presence of his young student, had also fallen asleep while running his fingers through the loosest part of Amai's braid.

This was why Koharu had insisted on visiting the cafe in the first place. She had sensed that Amal's sorrow was similar to Itachi's own and had believed that both teenagers would benefit from interacting with one another. Seeing them together, it was like their chakra resonated with one another. When she became older, Koharu would learn that this resonance indicated that two people were a good match for one another, but as of right now, she was still too young to understand or think of such things. However, the resonance between Itachi and Amai caused Koharu to frown as she thought of something else that she had never really thought about too deeply before.

* * *

Notes: So I decided to add in a couple of chapters about Itachi and Koharu's first visit to Howling Wolf Village. It was originally going to just be one chapter, but it was becoming too long.

Also, I've tried to simplify Koharu's speech patterns a bit, to better match her age. Although I don't bother when she's speaking about medical stuff. Also, even if her language seems very advanced in English, it should be noted that Japanese sentence structure is generally more simplistic than English, so if I were to translate her sentences into Japanese, it wouldn't necessarily sound overly grownup.

Since somebody asked about this, I'll explain a couple of things regarding Koharu's behavior in this chapter. First off, she is generally less reserved than she was in Konoha because everyone in Howling Wolf Village are strangers that she doesn't expect to see very often. On top of that, she knows that Itachi will back her up and protect her from people like Jiryuu, and that Itachi is essentially a rogue living outside the law, and by virtue of being his student, so is she. So she's not really afraid of ticking a few people off like she was in Konoha because there's nobody here that can pose a genuine threat to her.

As for Amai, Koharu is open and unreserved around her because she can sense that Amai is trustworthy. It hasn't yet occurred to her that even though Amai is trustworthy, certain things regarding Konoha are classified and she shouldn't speak so openly about them, even with friends. She's only eight. She still lacks judgment and a filter to a point, but only around people that she trusts. She is much more reserved in the Akatsuki meetings because she doesn't trust anyone there except for Itachi and Konan, so she usually only speaks during meetings when she has something useful to say.

As for whether she behaves in a way that is normal for a child who has suffered trauma... keep in mind that Naruto does not behave as one would expect with regards to his situation either. In both cases, this is in part due to personal temperaments, but Koharu's response is also affected by the Shinjitsugan. She actually feels safer living on the run with Itachi than she ever did in Konoha. In her own mind, Itachi is somebody who represents safety, in part because he has also protected her in times of danger since she was an infant, even if it was only coincidence that he was nearby when things happened.


	6. Training

"Sensei..." Koharu said softly when Itachi had awoken the next morning. Amai was already awake and cooking breakfast, having rushed out in an embarrassed fluster after realizing that she had fallen asleep with her head on Itachi's chest.

"What is it, Koharu?" Itachi asked, trying not to dwell on the implication of the fact that he himself had fallen asleep while playing with Amai's hair.

"I've never given it much thought before, but... it occurred to me that there's something... weird... about your little brother Sasuke and my little brother Naruto."

"Weird? How so?" Itachi asked, wondering what it was Koharu had picked up on that likely nobody else had.

"Although Sasuke-san's chakra is close enough to yours that I can sense that he is your brother... at the same time... it's almost like... in addition to the chakra that he received from your parents, he somehow has an extra source of chakra. As if his body houses the chakra of another person. It's not like the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. That's a completely separate entity and consciousness. It's more like... like this chakra mixes in and blends with what he inherited naturally and even affects his personality and his psyche. In addition to the Kyuubi, Naruto also has an extra chakra source that is similar to the one in Sasuke-san. So similar, that if I were to separate the two from the chakra that they inherited from their parents... I would say that they were brothers."

"The chakra of brothers?" Itachi asked in slight confusion. When Koharu nodded in confirmation, he looked thoughtful. "That would explain why I believed that the two of them were a natural pair..."

"Do you have any idea what it could be?" Koharu asked curiously.

"Only one." Itachi admitted. "There's a legend passed down amongst the Uchiha Clan that our ancestor, Indra, the father of the Uchiha and son of the Sage of Six Paths, sometimes reincarnates within the clan. In more practical terms, this would be the result of Indra having used some sort of jutsu to prevent his leftover chakra from simply dispersing when he died and instead settle itself either upon a newborn baby or one yet to be born within our clan, eventually mixing with the child's own chakra as time went on and causing them to pursue Indra's will." At this thought, Itachi frowned, knowing exactly how dangerous "Indra's will" was. "Indra and his younger brother Ashura had a... falling out... after their father chose Ashura to be his heir. I've heard rumors that after hearing of Indra's intentions, Ashura also chose to reincarnate among his descendants. Indra only did so among the Uchiha because we are the only ones among his descendants to inherit his Sharingan, but given what I know about his philosophies, Ashura would probably be less picky and the Uzumaki are among those that descended from him. I've always thought all of this was nothing more than myth or superstition, but perhaps I was wrong."

"Sensei, that reminds me," Koharu said abruptly, "Why are you of all people superstitious? It seems contrary to the rest of your personality."

"There are things in this world that logic alone cannot explain." Itachi told her while patting her head, "Come on. Let's go join Amai-san."

病

"So what are you two going to do while waiting for Reishi-kun to finish the Kotarō?" Amai asked as the three of them ate breakfast.

"I'm thinking that I'll begin training Koharu." Itachi replied, "She's already skilled in iryouninjutsu and Taijutsu, but she's never learned to use shuriken because the Academy wouldn't accept a student with a handicap like hers. Still, she's very talented. With training that is tailored to suit her, I think she can become quite capable."

"But how can you teach a blind child to throw shuriken?" Amai asked in confusion.

"It's easy if he carves a target into the bark of a tree." Koharu explained, "It would create a disruption in the tree's chakra that's like epidural abrasion on a person. The damage to the bark created by shuriken striking it will allow me to see where I've struck to help me improve my accuracy."

"Ohh... Amazing..." Amai said with interest.

"I'm not totally inept where shuriken are concerned." Koharu remarked placidly, "Although I've never learned to throw them, I've learned to use kunai to defend myself from shuriken and thrown kunai alike."

"Eh? How?" The older girl asked curiously.

"By watching my opponents' movements when they throw the weapon in question." Koharu explained, "The way that they hold it... the movement when thrown... all of that tells me what weapon they are using and where it will strike, enabling me to block it."

"We should work on increasing the variety of weapons that you can protect yourself from in that case." Itachi remarked, "There's far more out there than just shuriken and kunai, and it would be good for you to be able to defend against close range weapons as well."

Koharu nodded, "The method taught to me by my father for fighting kunai at close range is to use my dominant hand to block and my non-dominant hand to attack using Gentle Fist. If I'm fighting a long range opponent, I use a kunai in each hand."

"That's not a bad strategy, but a single kunai may be insufficient for defending against larger weapons." Itachi told her, "We should probably obtain a dagger or a short sword for you."

Koharu nodded and Amai spoke up, "Um... if it's all right with you... could I accompany you? Even though my mind remembers what I used to be able to do, I fear that my body may have forgotten. Before I can even attempt to recreate my personal jutsu that I worked so hard to perfect, I need to remind my muscles and chakra network that—at least as far as training goes—I am a Shinobi."

"That's fine with me." Itachi told her, "But we should go deep enough into the forest that nobody will bother us or complain about us carrying weapons."

Amai snorted in contempt, "Yes, because shuriken are so much more dangerous than small cylinders, which people are allowed to carry freely." She said sarcastically.

"While I understand your point, none of us wish to be arrested. We need to remain on good terms with this village to a point in order to be able to buy Kotarō from Reishi-kun." Koharu pointed out.

"Fair enough." Amai said with a sigh. "Let me go change into something more suitable for training. It's difficult to move around in my kimono."

病

A little while later, the three of them stood in the forest, Amai having changed into a kosode and hakama to allow her to move more freely. Itachi, after having carved a target into a tree, stood at an appropriate distance with Koharu.

"Watch my movements first, Koharu, to give you an idea of the proper technique." He told the little girl. Koharu nodded in reply and watch as Itachi threw two shuriken at the target he'd made with perfect precision. He carefully removed the two shuriken and held them out to Koharu. "Now you try."

Koharu nodded again and carefully took the shuriken in her hands. She gripped them exactly the way that Itachi had and then threw them in the exact same way, striking just below the precise places that he had. Itachi blinked in confusion. Even Sasuke hadn't been able to pick up new shuriken techniques so easily. Noticing Itachi's bewilderment, Koharu blinked and turned her face toward him, "Didn't I tell you?" She asked in confusion, "With a high enough level of skill, one can use the Shinjitsugan to copy techniques just like with the Sharingan, although it works a little differently. Papa said that very few members of our clan have ever achieved that level of proficiency though."

"Oh..." Amai said with amazement, "It seems that she's a prodigy of your caliber, Itachi-san."

Koharu turned her head toward the older girl.

"Not really." She replied simply, "My mastery is the result of using the Shinjitsugan nonstop since I was very small to compensate for my blindness, that's all."

Itachi seemed slightly amused, "Very well then. But if you only copy my movements, you won't really learn to develop a feel for how to do it in other situations, so I'll show you multiple techniques in a row. Try to keep up and copy them if you can. If you succeed, then we'll switch to having you aim at the targets from different angles than the ones that I've shown you."

"In other words, it won't be helpful if I'm only able to aim at targets from predetermined angles and distances. I have to learn to adapt and aim on my own without relying on copying you." Koharu surmised.

"Exactly." Itachi said with a nod. "Copying me is fine in that it will help you to master the basic movements, but I can't possibly show you the correct way to throw in every situation by aiming at trees."

"I suppose shuriken jutsu is as good a place as any to start redevoloping my synapses." Amai said with a stretch, "Although I doubt I'm half so capable as either of you."

"Although the Uchiha are known for their superior shuriken jutsu, there's nothing so special about it that it can't be learned by other people." Koharu remarked.

病

And so the next several hours were spent with Koharu and Amai practicing shuriken jutsu and learning the finer points of it from Itachi. Afterwards, the two girls had a sparring match in taijutsu before the three of them sat down to have lunch.

"By the way, Koharu," Itachi began as they ate the food that Amai had brought for their meal, "Have you learned to perform Change in Chakra Nature yet?"

"Change in Chakra Nature?" Koharu repeated, looking thoughtful, "That's where you perform jutsu with different elements, right? I know a little bit about it. I know some basic Suiton jutsu, but Raiton and Fuuton are more chakra intensive, so I haven't learned them yet."

Itachi looked at Amai, "Amai-san, your primary nature is Lightning, right?"

"Yes." Amai said with a nod, "But like Koharu-Chan said, Raiton is chakra intensive. I don't have large enough reserves to use it for very long. For that reason, I tend to rely on Suiton more."

Itachi nodded thoughtfully, "Of the five main nature releases, Suiton is the most balanced in that is useful for both offense and defense, and it doesn't require as much chakra as the more attack-oriented natures like Wind, Fire, and Lightning. Raiton is probably the least intensive of those three. Ordinarily, Genin can't use Katon, but in the Uchiha Clan, it's different. Our natural reserves are high enough that children often learn to use Katon before they even enter the Academy or at least by the end of their first year there. Sasuke had a harder time learning it than I did."

"Sasuke-san has more natural talent for taijutsu than ninjutsu." Koharu remarked, "In fact, I think between them, Naruto actually has more talent for learning ninjutsu. The problem is that most of what they teach at the Academy is based on Yin Release, and Naruto's ability to use that is basically zero. The fact that he has difficulty with chakra control doesn't really help."

Itachi nodded in reply, "That point is irrelevant for the time being though. We should focus more on what _you_ have the ability to learn. The Mystic Palm technique that you use is an A-Rank jutsu which requires precise chakra control. You've also learned fuinjutsu from your father, right?"

"Yes." Koharu said with a nod, "The Mayonaka are experts in Fuinjutsu by nature, but Papa also learned even more techniques from Naruto's Mama before we were born. That's part of why Papa was chosen to look after Naruto. He was the only person besides Lord Fourth with the ability to maintain Naruto's seal. Fortunately, he taught me the jutsu for that before..." Her face fell and Itachi attempted to redirect her thoughts.

"Even though you weren't allowed into the Academy, your father put a great deal of effort into training you properly, didn't he?"

Koharu brightened up at this, "Yes! And he taught me about medicine too! And Ojiichan says that he'll keep helping me to get better whenever I visit him!"

"You know Mystic Palm, and I seem to recall that you can scale vertical surfaces as well." Itachi remarked.

"Uh-huh!" Koharu chirped happily before thinking of something, "Oh, but, I can't walk on water. Kind of hard to walk on something you can't see."

"Fair enough." Itachi said with a nod before looking at Amai, "Amai-san, what about you?"

"I'm afraid not." Amai replied with a wry smile, "Although I did technically become a genin, I never had the chance to go on any missions, so I didn't learn how to do things like that."

"It's easy!" Koharu exclaimed as she hopped down off of the rock that she'd been sitting on, "All you have to do is concentrate just enough chakra into the soles your feet." With this said, she began walking up a tree that hadn't been used for target practice, "Too much, and you'll be repelled. Too little, and you won't stick to the tree. I've heard that kunoichi have more talent for this than shinobi."

Amai sweat-dropped. "'Easy.' She says..."

"You'll be fine." Itachi assured her, "You created an S-rank jutsu on your own without any assistance or instruction. It won't take you long to grasp this. And Koharu is right. On average, kunoichi are more naturally adept at chakra control than shinobi."

Amai nodded hesitantly and began trying for herself. To her surprise, she actually did find it to be pretty easy.

"I'll teach you how to walk on water too." Itachi told her.

"I'd rather not go anywhere near a body of water..." Amai admitted.

"There might come a time when you'll need the knowledge." Itachi said pragmatically. He understood her hesitation about going near bodies of water, but believed it was dangerous to allow that to influence her.

"Amai-san, I think you could learn to use Katon too, if you tried." Koharu said as she jumped down from the tree.

"She probably doesn't have enough chakra for that quite yet." Itachi remarked.

"Speaking of which, Koharu, how easily are you able to learn new jutsu?"

"It's the same as with the shuriken jutsu earlier." Koharu said with a shrug, "I can copy everything up to B-rank using my Shinjitsugan by analyzing the flow of chakra."

Itachi nodded in confirmation, "That's good. Unlike with shuriken jutsu, there's no problem with you learning new techniques by copying somebody else. If you pay close attention to both myself and my opponents when I'm in battle on missions, you'll be able to learn a wide variety of jutsu. The more expansive your repertoire, the better, so always watch carefully when you're able."

"Right, Sensei!" Koharu chirped happily.

病

Later that evening, the three of them returned to Amai's shop, Koharu having filled the lunch basket with different medicinal herbs after she and Amai had reached their physical limit. Unfortunately, when they arrived, they found Jiryuu waiting for them.

"Amai!" The man demanded, "Why didn't you open up the store today?!"

Amai's jaw clenched and she looked at Itachi and Koharu, seeking confirmation that they would back her up before turning back to the man.

"I decided to take the day off." She said plainly, "You shouldn't need me to tell you that since your men are always spying on me."

"Yes, yes." Jiryuu said in annoyance, "Something about you training in the forest with these two. I don't know why you would bother with that Amai. You know that the village has demilitarized."

"I bothered Jiryuu, because evidently, even though the village is neutral, I still have a need to defend myself." Amai replied in annoyance while leveling the man with a glare.

"The only thing you need to do is work to pay me back my money, girl!" The man exclaimed in rage while pulling his hand back, "And show some respect to your usurer!" He attempt to strike the young girl, but she caught his wrist with her hand.

"I'm not going to keep paying you for the predatory debt that you trapped my parents in." Amai said evenly while shoving him away from herself, "I now remember everything about my training before the village went neutral and I'm not going to let you harass me anymore. Furthermore, if you ever attempt to strike me again, I won't hesitate to break your arm in self-defense."

Jiryuu stumbled back and glared at her, "You think it's that easy, girl?! I told you before, if you don't pay me what you owe, I'll go to the police!"

"And if you do, I'll tell them everything." Amai said with a glare, "About how you swindled my parents into taking an addictive narcotic by telling them it was Kotarō when it wasn't. About how you buried us under a debt that you knew could never be repaid. About how I couldn't obtain medical care for Adzuki because of it. About how my parents drowned trying to retrieve those stupid pills. I wasn't the one who killed my family, you were."

"And who do you think will believe you?!" Jiryuu demanded, "The words of that Kodon brat mean nothing!"

"I don't have to rely on Reishi-kun's testimony." Amai told him, "Itachi-san saw everything when he released me from my father's genjutsu. And he already knows about your counterfeit drugs, as does Koharu-chan, who—despite her age—is a talented iryouninja." She wove a few signs and electricity crackled as it gathered into her right hand before forming into a sparking sword, "You knew that my memories had been altered and took advantage of that. You took advantage of me and my family. There's no reason that I shouldn't kill you here and now." Jiryuu looked fearful at this statement, but Amai allowed the electrical sword to vanish, "But I won't. Because I refuse to be like the adults of this village, who proclaim neutrality but take lives without giving a single thought to what they are doing."

"Th-that... that was..." Jiryuu stammered fearfully.

"My personal ninjutsu, Raiton: Raiken." Amai replied, "Koharu-chan told you, didn't she? A skilled shinobi doesn't need to carry weapons. We can simply create them... using our own chakra. And nobody can say that I broke the law by creating this technique because I perfected it before the village declared neutrality." She turned to enter her home and cast a sidelong glance at Jiryuu. "Don't ever come near me again. Oh, and knock it off with the surveillance too, or I'll tell the police that you and your clansmen are stalking me."

Jiryuu turned and scrambled down the street in a panic and Amai sighed as she let herself and her guests in before closing the door. "Man, that felt good!" She exclaimed.

Koharu giggled, but Itachi seemed concerned, "Will you be all right?" He asked, "That men and his kin might try to retaliate."

"I'm not afraid of them." Amai said calmly as she headed toward the kitchen, "Not anymore. Jiryuu and his men could never be as dangerous as Roen. If he tries to attack me, I will defend myself." She looked down at the counter with a slightly melancholy expression, "It's not that I'm suddenly full of myself just because I remember the Roen incident now. I just don't plan on letting them bully me anymore. I'm tired of living in fear."

Itachi nodded in understanding, "What do you intend to do now?" He asked.

"I intend on inviting Reishi-kun and Kina-chan to come live with me." Amai said as she retrieved some spices from her cupboard, "That Reishi has to fend for the both of them at his age is a crime within itself. If nobody else in the village is willing to look after them, then I will."

"That might create new problems for you." Itachi remarked, not trying to discourage Amai so much as pointing out facts that she may not have considered, "The villagers view those two as a reminder of Roen's rampage. If you take them in, they may turn against you. Not to mention that, by claiming the drug that his clan traffics is Kotarō, Jiryuu, however inadvertently, is framing Reishi-kun."

"If the village tries to punish me for looking after them, then I'll take them to go live in the forest." Amai answered, "Just leaving this place altogether would be more ideal, but because Roen was sealed inside of Kina-chan, he's unable to go too far away from the shrine. As for the other thing you mentioned... well, I'll keep an eye on things and cross that bridge when I get there. If they attempt to arrest either Reishi or I, I'll reveal the truth to them. However, it's common knowledge in this village that Kotarō can be combined with other medicines to increase the effectiveness, so they probably won't bother. Besides, the herbs used to make Kotarō also have a place in other medicines, so they can't outlaw possession of those herbs. I have no intention of displaying open aggression toward anyone, but I'm not going to continue to allow those two boys or myself to suffer the repercussions of stupid choices that the adults made on their own." She began mixing the meat for the dish that she was preparing. "It's strange, isn't it? This village has denounced war, and yet it is steeped in a greater darkness than most shinobi could ever imagine."

Itachi blinked in surprise, but then nodded in agreement.

* * *

Itachi and Amai's love story is more of a side story here. Sweet and Naive has a great deal more development to it, but that's because A: their romance is not the central focus of this fan fiction, and B: Koharu's meddling (which is partially instinct because of her abilities), kind of pushes it along at a faster pace. So Itachi and Amai are already good friends after a day, but they aren't really "in love" yet. Amai, Reishi, and Kina will appear from time to time, but again, not the main focus of this story. ;

Also, I got the idea for Koharu being aware of Sasuke and Naruto being the incarnations due to Hagoromo's statement that he could see Indra and Ashura's chakra clinging to the two of them. Koharu can't see it as distinctly because the Shinjitsugan is entirely different from the Rinnegan, but I figured she could still sense it, especially because, at some point, Naruto and Sasuke apparently gain their own awareness of it even before Hagoromo tells them.


	7. The Meaning of Comrades in the Akatsuki

Almost three years after Jūzō's death, Koharu was leaving Howling Wolf Village with Itachi when she suddenly stopped. Itachi noticed this immediately and looked at the young girl.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Orochimaru is approaching..." Koharu told him, "With ill intentions..."

"What kind?" Itachi inquired.

"I don't sense killing intent... so my guess would be capture? I can certainly sense enormous greed. At any rate, he plans to betray us and attack."

"Go hide yourself in the forest." Itachi told her, indicating the forest that lined the road they were on, "I will deal with him."

"Right." The young girl replied, hurrying and hiding in the greenery. Itachi continued walking forward. What was it that Orochimaru wanted, and why was he making his move now? Come to think of it, the snake-man had told him when he first joined the Akatsuki that he'd been reborn twice in the six years since he had left Konoha. Did that have something to do with it?

Koharu hid herself and suppressed her chakra as much as she could within the forest. She was still relatively close to its edge, but not enough to be seen. She had more or less taken a straight path from where she had been with Itachi, and now she was monitoring the situation as he approached Orochimaru. She could only hope that her sensei would be all right against one of the legendary Sannin.

Abruptly, she became aware of another person's presence and she quickly threw a kunai through the trees at the newcomer. A man, whose chakra was unfamiliar to her, dropped down in front of her.

"Well, although I knew your sensory abilities were amazing, I didn't expect that you'd be able to throw a kunai so accurately." His voice was unfamiliar too, but she could tell it was a young man.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" Koharu demanded calmly, her attention still partially trained on the signatures of Itachi and Orochimaru.

The man chuckled, moving in a way that suggested to her that he was pushing up a pair of glasses. "As expected of Itachi's student. You're so calm, even though you're so young."

The prepubescent girl readied her kunai, "Answer my question." The man chuckled again before making a series of hand signs and chakra flowed into his hands. Koharu's eyes widened as she recognized the form of the chakra. "Chakra scalpels?!" He dashed toward her and she jumped to the side, but he reached out and grabbed hold of her left calf. Koharu gave out a small cry as she fell to the ground. "M-My Achilles' tendon..."

"That's right..." the man said thoughtfully as he stood over her, "You're a prodigy in medical ninjutsu. It's really too bad that Danzou didn't simply deliver you to Lord Orochimaru as promised. Then I wouldn't have had to injure you."

Koharu narrowed her eyes. So that was it. However, she was still aware of what was happening with Itachi and Orochimaru. "Perhaps you should worry about your master instead of me."

This caught the man's attention, and he sprinted away. Koharu groaned and went limp in the grass.

病

"...haru... Koharu!"

Koharu groaned and opened her eyes at the sound of Itachi's voice, "Sensei?"

"What happened?" Itachi asked her with concern.

"I was attacked by Orochimaru's subordinate. He used a chakra scalpel to sever my left Achilles' tendon. I can't move my lower leg." Koharu explained, seething in pain as she tried to get up.

"Can you heal it?" Itachi asked with concern, but Koharu shook her head.

"No, I can't move my leg well enough to reach it."

"Then we'll have to find a place where you can receive medical attention." Itachi replied as he carefully picked up his young charge, "We'll start by going back to the village, perhaps the hospital there can treat you."

Koharu nodded slowly. The pain in her leg was making her feel like throwing up, even though she knew that Itachi was being as careful as he could be.

"Do you know why Kabuto attacked you?"

She wrinkled her brow in thought, "He said that Danzou had promised to deliver me to Orochimaru. I don't understand. Orochimaru is a rogue ninja, and has been since I was a baby. Why would Danzou cooperate with him?"

"Danzou doesn't care about the rules of the village or protecting the citizens of Konoha." Itachi replied as he began making his way back toward Howling Wolf Village, "His concept of the Will of Fire is twisted. He'll do anything if he thinks it will benefit the future of the village."

"But what good is it to protect Konoha if you don't protect its citizens, especially the children that are its future?" Koharu asked.

"Exactly." Itachi replied, relieved that she could already see the flaw in Danzou's logic, despite being only eleven years of age.

"That man is insane." Koharu said decisively, _"He _ought to be the one treated as a traitor."

"I agree." Itachi said with a nod, "I don't know why nothing has ever been done about him." Itachi had long felt that the Third Hokage was too careful and too slow to act. In Itachi's opinion, the old man was so afraid of upsetting the balance that he often failed to actually protect the village. Maybe it would've been better to have gone rogue sooner and taken Danzou out of the picture. He mentally shook his head. No. That wouldn't have been possible. By the time he had obtained his Mangekyou Sharingan, Danzou had already stolen Shisui's right eye. Prior to that point, he wouldn't have had the ability to kill the man, and if he tried to set his sights on Danzou now, he probably wouldn't even manage to reach him because the Foundation would get in his way, to say nothing of the Third Hokage if Itachi were perceived as attacking Konoha directly. Assassinating Danzou would require Danzou to leave the village, which he never did these days.

Itachi proceeded through the village, all of the vendors steering clear of him and Koharu rather than trying to garner their attention. They had learned in the past three years that it was better to avoid the nukanin and his student. Itachi returned to _Amai no Amai_, which also now doubled as Reishi's herbalist shop, _Rengyoudou_, causing the now sixteen-year-old Amai to look over at him before her eyes widened in alarm and she rushed over. "What happened to Koharu-chan?!"

"We were attacked on our way down the mountain." Itachi replied as he carefully set Koharu down on a seat.

"Attacked? By who?" Amai asked with concern, "I didn't think there was anyone left in the village that would be that dumb."

"It was one of my associates from Akatsuki." Itachi explained, causing Amai's worry to increase.

"One of your...? Did they find out that you're...?"

"No." Itachi assured her, "I think he's betrayed the organization. His name is Orochimaru. He's originally from Konoha like I am."

Now Amai looked confused. "One of the legendary Sannin? But why would he...? What was he after?"

"With him, there's no telling, but he probably sought to take my Sharingan for himself." Itachi replied, "While I was engaging him, his subordinate, an iryouninja, attacked Koharu and injured her leg. I'm going to go and see if it's something that the doctors at the hospital would even be able to treat." He looked at his young charge, "Stay here with Amai-san and wait for me."

"Not to be impertinent, but I don't really have a choice in the matter, Sensei." The young girl replied. She wasn't able to see Itachi's wry smile, but she could sense his mild amusement at her dryness. As Itachi walked off, Koharu tried—without much success—to find a remotely comfortable position before Reishi insisted that she stop. She wasn't intentionally scanning the people milling about, but there was a chakra signature that jumped out at her. '_Such massive chakra reserves...'_ She thought to herself, '_An Uzumaki? But... somehow... most of it is concentrated in the center of her forehead...'_

"Lady Tsunade! Please wait!" A woman's voice pleaded. It wasn't the one whose chakra had caught her attention, but another woman who was following her with an animal in her arms. A pig? No, never mind that. The second woman had called the first Tsunade... did she mean Tsunade of the Sannin? The world's greatest iryouninja?

Koharu winced as another wave of pain surged through her leg, her "vision" becoming distorted as she lost the ability to even sort of concentrate.

"Good grief." Tsunade complained as she walked into a cafe that was apparently attached to an herbalist's shop, "This is supposed to be 'the Land of Medicine', but thus far, I haven't seen one person who actually knows anything about medicine. Hm?" She suddenly stopped, although not because Shizune had asked her to, but because the apparent proprietor of the shop, along with two young boys, was leaning over a preteen girl lying on the seat of one of the tables, her face twisted in pain. Something about the child's left leg didn't look right. Although she had given up her career as a medic years ago, she instinctively walked over to the child. "What happened to her leg?" She asked.

The older girl and the two boys suddenly looked up at her, having apparently failed to notice her entry due to their concern for the younger girl. The girl's wince faded slightly as she opened her eyes, although they didn't shift at all, and Tsunade quickly realized that on top of being injured, the girl was also blind.

"I was attacked by a medical ninja who was trying to abduct me." She explained, "He used a chakra scalpel to sever my left Achilles' tendon. My teacher went to find out whether the doctors at the hospital would be able to treat me."

The brunette teenager beside the girl scoffed, "I wouldn't even trust those idiots to treat a paper cut. Just a passing flu my foot..."

"That was... a far more direct explanation than I was expecting..." Tsunade remarked in surprise, for the most part ignoring the older girl's muttering.

The younger girl smiled wryly, "I'm an iryouninja myself. I would've already treated my leg, but I can't reach the injury under the circumstances."

"You're really young for an iryouninja." Tsunade murmured, moving her hands forward to treat the girl's leg, "How do you even manage to treat people when you're blind? For that matter, how did you know that I'm an iryouninja?"

"The only person I ever have to treat is myself or my teacher." She replied, her face relaxing slightly, "As for your second question... I noticed your enormous chakra reserves immediately. When your companion called out your name, I figured out who you were."

"So you're a sensory type..." Tsunade said, almost to herself.

"Yes. I was born blind, but... I have a Kekkei Genkai. It's supposed to be a visual prowess, but in my case, it bypasses my optic nerves and feeds sensory information directly to the brain. It's related to the Byakugan. I can see people's chakra network, but not their tenketsu." She explained, "In most cases, I can make a diagnosis by analyzing that."

"Well that explains how you manage with the blindness, but not how you've already become an iryouninja at your age. You don't even look old enough to have graduated from Konohagakure's Academy."

"I'm not." The girl confirmed, "But my father was also an iryouninja, and my Kekkei Genkai allows me to control my chakra very easily. I learned Mystic Palm when I was about six or so. My teacher is not an iryouninja, but nowadays, I further myself with the help of my grandfather or by reading books and scrolls that are specially made for me."

"Ah, so it runs in the family." Tsunade surmised.

"Yes." The girl sat up when Tsunade pulled her hands away, her face filled with relief, "Thank you for treating me. I would've tended to it myself, but I couldn't reach an injury of that nature."

"It's more difficult to heal yourself anyway without some kind of regenerative power." Tsunade remarked.

The girl nodded before suddenly looking shy. "Um... If it's all right... may I ask for your advice about something?"

Tsunade raised a brow, "What is it?"

"My... my teacher is sick. I first became aware of it about three years ago, but it may have started before that. I've carefully analyzed the situation and have come to the conclusion that his chakra network is, for some reason, placing strain upon his blood vessels, resulting in hemorrhaging when the flow accelerates beyond a certain point. Right now, it is limited to smaller blood vessels, mostly his eyes when he uses his more powerful doujutsu, but... I suspect that over time, larger blood vessels are suffering damage and slowly wearing thin. The damage is less when he doesn't have to extend his chakra beyond a certain point, but, I'm fairly certain that, sooner or later, he will..." Tears filled her eyes, but she brushed them away, "My grandfather has never seen or heard of anything like this, although he doesn't have a visual prowess like I do. I can't find any information in any books about it either. Aside from mending the damage as much as I can when it happens and treating his pain, I don't have the slightest clue what to do."

Tsunade frowned, looking thoughtful, "Based on your description, it could be genetic, or a birth defect, but my actual guess would be Microscopic Polyangitis."

"Microscopic Polyangitis?" The girl repeated, unfamiliar with the term.

"You know what auto-immune diseases are, right?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes. They're the result of an overactive immune system malfunctioning and attacking the body instead of defending it." The young girl said with a nod.

"Microscopic Polyangitis is a type of auto-immune disease." Tsunade explained, "It's a rare form of systemic vasculitis, characterized by antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies attacking the smaller blood vessels, causing them to hemorrhage when there is an increase of inflammation."

"I see..." The girl said thoughtfully, "The chakra network and vascular system are closely linked... acceleration of one's flow of chakra, in addition to acceleration of the blood flow, which often occurs in tandem with the former, could increase the inflammation and accelerate the damage."

Tsunade nodded in confirmation, "Has your mentor received any form of treatment during the time since you noticed this?"

"Yes." The younger medic said with a nod, "I've been administering anti-inflammatory medications regularly. Mostly in the form of an herbal tea compounded by Amai-san." At this, she nodded to the older girl, "I only resort to steroids when he is in particularly bad shape, because of the risks associated. I also administer a sedative when possible, in order to forcibly slow the flow of his chakra."

"Then what you need to add is an immunosuppressant." Tsunade told her, "That will help to extend his life, but... to be honest, curing him is likely something that would be beyond your abilities."

She sighed quietly, "I see... I was afraid of that..."

"Um... could you not go find your teacher and bring him here for examination?" Shizune asked, but the girl shook her head.

"My teacher is unwilling to be seen by anyone other than myself or my grandfather. Besides, while I can see people, in a sense, I can't see walls or other manmade objects. If I went to go look for him..."

"You'd just injure yourself again." Tsunade surmised with a nod.

"Yes. But never mind that. Reishi-kun, would you be able to probide us with an immuno-suppressant?"

Reishi looked thoughtful as he walked over to a book, "Something like that wouldn't need Kotarō, but... I think I do have a formula... here it is!" He held the book out to Tsunade, "This is the recipe for the immuno-suppressant. He held out a few sheets of paper, "And then, these are the ingredients used in the sedative, the anti-inflammatory tea, and the eye drops he uses."

Tsunade looked at the medicine described in the book and the papers the boy had handed her and then nodded, "Yes. I think this should be compatible."

"I'll start preparing it right away, Koharu-chan." Reishi said after taking his book back.

Koharu nodded and turned back to Tsunade, "Thank you for at least hearing me out. I won't take anymore of your time."

Tsunade nodded and stood up, "Be more careful from now on. Next time, you might not be as lucky."

病

Itachi was surprised when he came back a short while later and found Koharu sitting in the cafe, swinging her legs freely as if nothing had ever happened. "Koharu?"

"Sensei!" Koharu said as she smiled brightly at her teenaged guardian, "Guess what! While you were visiting the hospital, Lady Tsunade happened to pass by and decided to repair my severed tendon."

Itachi sweat-dropped, wondering just what kind of luck this girl had that the most renowned medical ninja in the world had just happened to walk by and see her while he—her guardian, who happened to listed in the Bingo Book as an S-class criminal—so happened to be absent. "I see... Well in any case, we need to get going. We need to return and report what happened."

"Okay." Koharu said while hopping off of the seat, "Oh, but before we go, we need to collect the medicine that Lady Tsunade recommended for your condition. Reishi-kun should be just about finished preparing it."

病

Soon Itachi and Koharu had gathered back at one of the Akatsuki's hideouts with the other members. Tobi was there too for some reason, sitting on a rock off to the side.

"Orochimaru betrayed and deserted our organization." Pain said to the others.

"I knew it. That snake..." Sasori said from beside Itachi. "He always put himself before the organization."

"I don't know for precisely what reason he joined in the first place," Koharu began, "But it seems that he was after Sensei's body. I suspect that's been his goal since we joined, and therefore the reason that he kept trying to switch partners. There was something specific though... It seemed to me that his own body was... weak somehow. I suspect he'll have to settle for an easier target if he wants to live. His own jutsu are killing him."

"You discerned that much even though you were dealing with Kabuto?" Itachi asked, somehow surprised even though he'd been Koharu's teacher for three years now.

"Sometimes I observe things subconsciously and analyze them later." She replied, "Besides, I had to keep tabs on what was happening with you too. It was how I got Kabuto to leave me alone when he had already succeeded in inhibiting my movements."

"I don't intend to let Orochimaru get away with this," Pain began, "But right now, we're short members."

Tobi jumped down from his rock, "Hey! Hey! Hey! How about letting me join?" Koharu cringed slightly at the way the man's persona contrasted with his true personality.

"Get lost!" Sasori said in annoyance.

Tobi acted like a scolded child, "Right..." Koharu found herself coughing in an attempt to cover the choking noise she nearly made in response.

"Leave Orochimaru to me." Sasori said, "His subordinate, Kabuto, is my puppet. I'll find out where he's hiding in no time."

"I don't mean to be impertinent, Sasori-san, but you might want to be careful when it comes to Kabuto." Koharu remarked.

"What?" Sasori asked as he looked at the young girl.

"When I encountered him, I sensed that Yakushi Kabuto was fiercely loyal to Orochimaru and that he deeply admires him. If he were to truly betray Orochimaru, it would be on purely his own terms. Any information he gives you could very well be a trap."

"What would you know about any of this?" Sasori asked in annoyance.

"Koharu's ability to read a person's chakra is unparalleled." Itachi told him, "Her judgment of character is never wrong."

"There's no need to rush." Pain told Sasori, "I have someone in mind to be your partner. It can wait until he joins us."

"What about me?" Kakuzu asked. "Do I team up with Itachi and his brat?"

"Work alone for a little longer." Pain told him, "I have someone else I've prepared to partner up with Itachi."

Koharu wasn't sure if she was relieved to hear that or not.

病

A short while later, Itachi sat on a dock near the hideout with Koharu by his side. He was watching some sharks moving in the water below them, but he looked up when he heard somebody approaching him. The man who walked up to them in an Akatsuki cloak didn't look human, but then again, most of the Akatsuki didn't.

"I'm going to be your partner from today." The man said politely. "I'm Hoshigaki Kisame, formerly of the Hidden Mist, and an ex-member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Pleased to meet you. And you are Uchiha Itachi, formerly of the Hidden Leaf. I've heard the rumors... You slaughtered all of your fellow Uchiha clansmen." Itachi said nothing and looked away, while Koharu kept her face turned toward the water. "I understand you well." Kisame told Itachi, "That's the reason why I decided to team up with you in Akatsuki. The sensation that comes from killing your comrade is indescribable, isn't it, Itachi-san?"

"You talk a lot." Itachi replied flatly, implying that he was annoyed, but Koharu knew that he was simply burying his pain beneath a cold facade for the sake of concealing the guilt that weighed heavily on his heart. Kisame... didn't understand a thing in her opinion. "You may know a lot about me, but what about yourself?" Itachi asked suddenly, "You got lost in the mist and ended up here. You're just a thug who couldn't figure out where to go. Am I wrong?"

Kisame's eyes widened at Itachi's words before he suddenly drew the sword on his back and held it above Itachi's shoulder, "Do you want to know something interesting?" He asked, "Some sharks are ovoviviparous, which means the eggs hatch inside the female's body, then are born. However, with some kinds of sharks, the number of eggs that hatch don't match up with the number of pups born. Do you know why?" Koharu considered answering, but then chose not to, believing that Itachi himself already understood the answer, and was simply waiting for Kisame to make his point. "Cannibalism." Kisame said simply, "When the eggs hatch, the pups resort to cannibalizing their siblings inside their mother's belly. From the moment they are born, the fratricide begins. Other than itself, every other pup is fodder. From today, you and I belong to Akatsuki. Please be wary... of me."

Itachi opened his eyes and allowed his Mangekyou Sharingan to spin to the surface. "That goes for you too."

Kisame grinned as he pulled back his sword and rested it on his own shoulder. "Well, anyway, let's have fun, and hope that we're not the last two facing each other."

"Anyone who has ever raised their hand against a comrade, even once, never dies a decent death." Itachi said calmly as he stood up and turned to face Kisame, "Remember that."

Kisame chuckled, "Which means you and I are both worthless."

"No..." Itachi began, "We aren't fish, we're human. No matter who you are..." he continued as he walked past Kisame with Koharu following, "You do not know what kind of human you are until the very end. One realizes their true nature at the moment of death. That's the way to view death."

Kisame watched Itachi for a moment, slightly baffled, before he followed after the sixteen-year-old and his student. Itachi led them to a nearby tea house and the three of them sat down.

"By the way..." Kisame began, "I don't believe that I was informed about the young lady."

"I'm Mayonaka Koharu." Koharu replied shortly, "I'm not from anywhere, and I don't know what it means to have comrades." Closing her eyes, she stood up from the table and headed back toward the door.

"Koharu?" Itachi asked her in confusion.

"Sorry Sensei, but I'm not really hungry." She turned and placed a small packet of medicine on the table next to him, "Be sure to take that with your tea. I'm going for a walk."

"Stay within earshot." Itachi told her, and she nodded before leaving. Itachi turned his attention back to Kisame, "Koharu was rejected as a shinobi because she is blind, yet she was feared for her skills at perception and for this, targeted. Her father died protecting her. Since then, I have looked after her as my student. I don't bring her with me into combat situations, but she aids me by using her sensory abilities and her knowledge of medicine. I will warn you, as perhaps I should have before, that if you ever attempt to betray me, Koharu will know it in an instant and alert me. Perhaps her strongest ability of all... is the ability to know who to trust."

* * *

I feel like Kisame and Itachi's first meeting is kind of sad, in part because of Kisame's grave misunderstanding of the type of person that Itachi is. Koharu is aware of this misunderstanding, is frustrated by it, and moreover, annoyed with Kisame for thinking he knows all about Itachi and troubled by Itachi's suffering. On top of that, their initial exchange has reminded Koharu of the feeling she already struggles with of not having a place to belong.

Itachi's diagnosis is a fan-theory that happened to fit with what I had previously said was the cause of his sickness. The explanation is a little inaccurate because it doesn't take into account the effects of the medicine that Itachi received from Reishi. After reviewing the fight between Itachi and Orochimaru (if you can even call it that), I realized that it probably happened on the road to Howling Wolf Village, rather than on a road leading to an Akatsuki hideout, so I rewrote part of the chapter to fit that.


	8. A Growing Girl

A few weeks later, Itachi, Kisame, and Sasori were sent out by Pain to recruit Sasori's new partner.

"Over there?" Sasori asked as they faced a set of steps leading up to a building.

"Yeah." Itachi replied before picking Koharu up to carry her up the stairs. When Kisame and Sasori both looked at him, he explained, "Koharu has difficulty ascending stairs without tripping." Without another word, he carried his student up to the entrance.

病

"The Akatsuki?!" The teenaged boy named Deidara exclaimed when they had stated their business. "Don't know and don't care." He remarked, "Now get lost! You're keeping me from my 'art appreciation' time."

"And I have to take this brat on as my partner?" Sasori asked in annoyance, "Sure, he's full of energy, but he seems like the type to die young."

"Offhand, I'd say he's liable to blow himself up at some point." Koharu agreed.

"It's our leader's orders..." Itachi replied, "His talent will be very useful."

At this, the boy seemed surprised, "How do you know about my talent? Just who the heck are you anyway?"

"We know you're aiding anti-government factions of neighboring nations with bombings..." Kisame remarked. "You're a Rogue Ninja, but what's your purpose?"

"Purpose? I don't need something like that!" Deidara answered, "I just take commissions to cause explosions... using my art."

"He's annoying." Sasori said flatly.

"Is he done?" Kisame asked.

"Who knows...?" Itachi wondered. "It doesn't matter. I'll do it." He opened his eyes and activated the Sharingan.

"Don't underestimate... me... or my art!" Deidara exclaimed while reaching behind him. "My ninjutsu is nothing but noble, refined art! Hm!"

"Do you even know what those two words mean?" Koharu wondered aloud.

Deidara ignored her as he threw a fistful of clay at Itachi. "Feel my art!" Itachi wordlessly jumped back, away from the clay. "Kaatsu!" The boy exclaimed, causing it to explode. Itachi landed lightly on the ground, unharmed. Suddenly a clay centipede popped out of the ground by his feet and wrapped itself around Itachi. Deidara chuckled. "You talked big... but is that all you have?" He formed a sign with his hand, "It's over...!"

"You should take a good look at yourself." Itachi told him.

"Huh?" The blond asked in surprise. Suddenly he realized that the centipede was wrapped around him and not Itachi. "Wh-What?!"

"That was close." Kisame remarked. "A little later and you would've blown yourself up."

"I said he was liable to do that." Koharu told him.

"I told you he was the type to die young." Sasori agreed.

"A genjutsu!" The boy realized, "Since when...?!"

"From the very beginning." Kisame said with a grin, "From the moment you looked into Itachi-san's Sharingan, you were under his genjutsu."

Deidara winced as sunlight shone through the hole that he had blasted through the wall and saw Itachi standing there. As he gazed at the Sharingan, he couldn't stop the thought that flowed through his mind. _'Beautiful... This is... art!' _The centipede fell to the floor and he grunted in frustration as he put a hand to his face. _'Darn! I became fascinated by the abilities of another?' _He looked up at Itachi, _'That's art? No way... I refuse to acknowledge it!' _Suddenly Koharu giggled and Deidara looked at her in confusion. "What's so funny?"

The blue-haired girl smiled knowingly, "You were just thinking that Sensei's Sharingan was beautiful, weren't you? I heard people say that about the Sharingan a lot when I was little. Not that I would know, since I can't see it for myself."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Deidara told her indignantly.

"Don't bother lying to me, I can see right through you." Koharu said while putting a hand on her hip, "I may be blind, but I can see your heart quite easily."

"What does that even mean?!" Deidara demanded.

Koharu sighed. "And to think that you call yourself an artist. As far as I can tell, you're little more than a teenaged delinquent. It must be nice having a Kekkei Genkai that doesn't make people hate you and hunt you down, even when you're a pyromaniac."

"That's big talk coming from a little girl!" Deidara exclaimed. Koharu sighed and pulled out a shuriken before throwing it toward Deidara. The shuriken curved, flying right in front of his face before striking the wall off to the side.

"Don't get cocky." Koharu said in annoyance, "You're barely three years older than me."

"What do you mean I shouldn't get cocky?!" Deidara demanded of her, "You missed! I didn't even have to dodge that."

"No, I didn't." Koharu said evenly, "My shuriken followed the exact path that I intended. It curved so that it flew right in front of your face, just above your nose, and then struck the wall approximately two meters to your right."

"She's right." Kisame pointed out. "Look, she clipped your bangs with it. But how did you know where it ended up, Koharu-chan?"

"I could tell by its sound and the approximate distances between myself and him." Koharu replied.

Kisame blinked and looked at Itachi, "What the heck are you teaching this kid? How do you even teach a blind child to throw shuriken?"

"She's not completely blind." Itachi reminded him, "She _can_ see people's chakra."

Koharu sighed again and then looked at Sasori, "Well, look at this way, Sasori-san. We're better off with _him_ than Orochimaru."

"Hn..." Sasori acknowledged begrudgingly.

病

A short while later, Deidara scratched through the Hidden Stone emblem on his headband and put on the cloak that was brought to him when the rest of the Akatsuki showed up. "Let me make it clear, I won't stop in my pursuit of art!"

"Do as you please." Pain told him. "But now that you're a part of the Akatsuki, I expect you to fulfill your missions." He held out his hand and handed Deidara a ring.

"I get it, I get it." Deidara said as he put the ring on, "But you know..." He suddenly pointed at Itachi, "You over there! I'll never get caught up in your genjutsu again, hmm!"

"Now that we're comrades, I doubt that I'll have to use my genjutsu on you." Itachi pointed out.

"I don't mind giving you a taste of my art." Deidara told him.

"Just so we're clear..." Koharu began, "I'm skilled in Raiton, and I can always see your bombs if they're anywhere within my sensory range. If you try to harm Itachi-sensei, I'll defuse them before you have the chance and then give you a taste of juuken taijutsu."

"Leave it at that." Sasori remarked, getting annoyed by Deidara's attitude.

"Sasori!" Pain said, "Partner with Deidara and go kill Orochimaru."

"About time." Sasori replied before walking toward Deidara.

"Who is this Orochimaru?" Deidara asked cluelessly.

"I'll tell you on the way." Sasori told him.

"Orochimaru has escaped into the Land of Wind." Konan informed them, "Beyond that, I don't know."

"That's all I need to know." Sasori told her. "Let's go."

Deidara groaned in annoyance, "You Akatsuki sure like to order guys around..." He said as he pulled some of his hair out of his long ponytail and tied it up into a higher ponytail.

"Hey, hurry up." Sasori growled.

"I know!" Deidara retorted before running after him.

"Itachi and Kisame, go to Kusagakure." Pain ordered. The two of them nodded in reply.

"What about my partner?" Kakuzu asked.

"Wait just a while longer." Pain told him.

At that moment, Koharu clutched her chest with one arm, wincing in pain. "Itai...!" She murmured quietly.

"What's the matter, Koharu?" Itachi asked as he looked at his student.

The young girl winced again, "I'm not exactly sure..." She admitted, "Lately I've been having pains in my chest... It's not related to my lungs though... I can't quite figure it out."

Upon hearing this, Konan walked over to the young girl, "Koharu, how old are you now?"

"Huh?" Koharu asked in confusion as she looked up at Konan, "...I just turned eleven a few months ago."

Konan nodded and then looked at Itachi, "Would you allow me to look after her while you handle your mission? I think this is something that would be better handled by a woman."

"Huh?" Koharu said in confusion, but Itachi seemed to catch the woman's meaning.

"Understood." He told Konan, "I'll leave her in your care then."

病

Koharu couldn't help but feel confused as she followed Konan after they left Deidara's residence.

"Do you know what puberty is, Koharu?" Konan asked.

"Um, not really." Koharu admitted, "Most of my medical training has been focused on treating injuries and illness."

"Puberty occurs when you enter adolescence." Konan explained, "From the time you enter puberty until you turn twenty, your body goes through many physical changes, in preparation for adulthood. Girls enter puberty sooner than boys."

"Why is that?" Koharu asked curiously.

"The female body is more complex, so there are more changes that occur. For that, more time is needed." Konan answered, "The pain you complained about is a sign that you've entered puberty."

"Really? But why does it hurt there?"

"Do you know what growing pains are?" Konan asked her.

"Yes. I got them when I was little." Koharu said, "Papa said it was just because I was always running around in the woods though."

"Perhaps. I don't know much about the medical theories on that." Konan admitted, "But the pain you are experiencing in your chest is because of physical development in that area."

At first, Koharu looked confused by this, but then understanding dawned on her face. "Oh..."

"It's perfectly normal." Konan assured her, "Painful, but normal. That said, I doubt Itachi would know the right way to explain all of this to you, even though he probably understands it from a scientific standpoint. It's just something that is better handled by a woman. You're probably going grow a lot these next few years. I wouldn't be surprised if he has to buy you new clothes every six months."

"It's not like I really care about what I wear anyway." Koharu said with a sigh, "I mean, I do have preferences for certain types of clothing, but... style and color are both kind of moot when you can't see either way."

"I'm guessing you don't have a favorite color then." Konan said.

"No, I do." Koharu said, "I like pink. I know what the colors are because I can see it in chakra. And I like clothing that wraps around my body. That's the kind of thing my father used to dress me in, so it feels right. I have a preference for skirts and dresses that enable freedom of movement, as I find that pants feel a little restrictive somehow. I usually wear something under them for the sake of modesty though."

Konan nodded, "Since you aren't an official member of the Akatsuki, you don't wear one of our cloaks, so I can see where you would be concerned about that. Anyway, there are certain things that a kunoichi needs once she has reached adolescence, so I'm going to take you to get them while Itachi is in Kusagakure, so that you'll know what you need later on."

"You mean undergarments?" Koharu asked, seeming slightly embarrassed.

"Well, yes. But there's more to it than that." Konan told her, "A kunoichi can't get away with the impractical types of those that civilians might wear. It's also ideal to find something that can protect that region while you're so tender there; until the growing pains have more or less subsided. There's also the matter of hygiene supplies and teaching you how to take care of your body as it changes, which is especially difficult in your case because you can't see. There are definitely some things which neither Itachi nor Kisame will want to be the ones to deal with when the time comes. And then there's the matter of your clothes. It will be troublesome if you outgrow them too quickly. Something that can be adjusted as you grow would be more ideal, but I think I have an idea for that."

"All right."

病

When they had reached a town of considerable size, Konan led Koharu to a shop, where they were greeted by an older woman. "How can I help you?" The woman asked kindly.

"My daughter has entered puberty and is needing proper attire for a young kunoichi." Konan told the woman. Koharu didn't bother to question why Konan had said that she was her child. The age difference between them was believable and it was less suspicious that way.

The woman looked at Koharu and smiled kindly, unaware of Koharu's blindness, "Becoming a young lady now, are you dear?"

"It would seem so." Koharu answered for lack of a better response. The woman chuckled and led them through the store to help them find what Koharu was needing.

病

When they had finished shopping there and at two other stores, Koharu took Konan's hand so that she could guide her through the streets of the town. "We'll head back to Amegakure for now and I'll teach you how to use these things while we wait for Itachi and Kisame to return."

"Okay." Koharu said, hesitating slightly before she spoke again, "Um, Konan-san?"

"Yes?" Konan replied, wondering why Koharu was suddenly acting so shy.

"Would you... would you mind if I called you 'Okaasan'?" Koharu asked, casting her face toward the ground, "I understand if you'd prefer I didn't, but... I've... I've never had a mother before and... this kind of thing... it feels like what a mother would do when her daughter entered adolescence. Not just the shopping... but the teaching me... and everything."

Konan's eyes widened, and then her expression softened. She could identify with Koharu's desire for a mother-figure. She had lost her own parents at a young age as well, and she could no longer remember them. For a few years as a child, she had been looked after by the toad sage Jiraiya, along with her fellow orphans, Yahiko and Nagato, but there had been times when she had still longed for an older woman to look after her, especially at this stage in her life.

"No, I don't mind."

* * *

Next to Itachi, Konan is my favorite member of the Akatsuki. She is never truly evil. In fact, she dislikes what the Akatsuki has become, as she feels that they have come to betray the original ideals on which it was founded, but she remains out of her attachment and loyalty to Nagato. She is, however, prone to defying Obito's orders whenever she thinks she can get away with it. Obito and Zetsu even tried to arrange her death once, partially because they wanted to push Nagato further into darkness. This happened in yet another Naruto novel that was never published in English. *sigh*

At any rate, because of her abilities with the Shinjitsugan, Koharu is aware of Konan's true feelings and nature, but she never speaks of them, because she is also aware that they can never know when they might be being watched, so she keeps quiet for Konan's sake. This is, nonetheless, the reason why she feels comfortable seeking a mother-daughter relationship with Konan, even if they do not see each other frequently.


	9. The Trouble with Kekkei Genkai

"We thoroughly searched the mountain of rubble, but we didn't find his corpse." Sasori told the group in a long-distance meeting a few days later, referring to his mission with Deidara to kill Orochimaru. "So we can't say for sure that we killed him."

"If he's alive, I swear I'll kill him myself." Deidara remarked. "Besides, what was with that ridiculous jutsu?!"

"Do you know anything about it?" Pain asked Itachi.

"Most likely, it's the Second Hokage's Edotensei no jutsu." Itachi replied, "You bring the dead back to life, and control them like a puppet. You can't kill it even if you tried. So you must use a fuinjutsu or suppress their movement forcefully."

"Why on earth would the Second Hokage create something that messed up?" Koharu asked.

"I don't know." Itachi admitted.

"We just have to kill Orochimaru, right?" Deidara asked.

"Even that won't stop a reanimated being..." Itachi replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Deidara exclaimed.

"Be wary of Orochimaru from now on." Pain said flatly. "If he's alive, he's bound to make another move."

"Ordinarily, no one could survive that explosion, hmm." Deidara said smugly.

"No one who joins us is ordinary." Sasori pointed out.

"The fact that he had already prepared the Third Kazekage implies that he was expecting your arrival." Koharu pointed out, "I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Yakushi Kabuto were acting as a double agent. That's the kind of person that he is."

"You're definitely the definition of abnormal." Deidara told her, "Your abilities freak me out."

The preteen glared at the blond, "You know who else said that? The adults in the village where I was born. Why do you think I'm here?"

"Another immortal has appeared out of the woodwork." Konan interrupted, trying to head off the quarrel.

"We have a request from the Land of Steam." Pain explained. "A homicidal maniac has appeared and they want us to eliminate him."

"Don't they have their own Hidden Steam shinobi?" Kakuzu asked.

"Apparently, they can't kill him." Konan replied.

"So this homicidal maniac is immortal too?" Itachi asked.

"Then, was he 'reani-whatever' by Orochimaru too?" Deidara asked.

"No." Koharu said flatly, "Orochimaru wouldn't just turn one loose and have it go on a killing spree. More likely, it's a rogue ninja from Yugakure itself."

"Do you know something about this, Koharu?" Itachi asked.

"Sometimes I hear things when I'm at my grandparents' place." She replied, "I've got an idea of who it is." Her gaze dropped, "I hope Ojiichan and Obaachan are okay..."

"I'm dispatching a different team this time." Pain told them.

病

When they arrived in the Land of Steam, Itachi, Koharu, and Kakuzu found a dead body hanging from a tree, a stake through his hands to keep him there. Albeit, Koharu couldn't actually see the body.

"This wasn't for money or revenge." Kakuzu remarked, "This was out of a deep desire to kill."

"There are other ways to quench blood thirst..." Itachi pointed out. "He had some purpose."

"You really have a way of irritating me after all." Kakuzu remarked.

Itachi made no reply, but instead looked at Koharu as she knelt on the ground. "What is it, Koharu?"

"Fresh blood carries traces of chakra." She told him, "The chakra in this symbol is different than that on the tree." She appeared to focus intently for a moment, "As I thought. I know who it is that we're looking for."

Kakuzu looked back up at the tree, "And you... Did you come to make sure I don't kill Itachi and the brat?"

"There are no other Sensory Types besides me." Konan replied from behind the three of them as she also looked up at the tree.

"The kid is a Sensory Type." Kakuzu pointed out.

"She's also not a combatant, and... the other members certainly aren't cut out to be decoys." The woman pointed out, "That's a role I refuse to allow Koharu to fill."

"I shouldn't anyways. The target will recognize me." Koharu said as she stood up.

"What can you tell us about him, Koharu?" Itachi asked.

"His name is Hidan. He _was_ a Shinobi of the Hidden Steam. I occasionally saw him during my stays with my grandparents. He's always been a rebel. I'm guessing that it's not so much that the Hidden Steam _can't _deal with him, so much that they are afraid to. Their avoidance of conflict has resulted in complacency and the weakening of their military force. They probably don't have anyone strong enough to deal with him at this point." Koharu remarked, "I've noticed his abnormal thirst for blood for a while now. It goes beyond simply killing for the sake of a mission. I tried to warn the higher-ups in Yugakure of this, discreetly of course, but they wouldn't listen, and so, here we are."

"If you're familiar with his Chakra, then can you scan the area for him?" Itachi asked, "The blood hasn't dried yet, so he shouldn't be out of your range."

"Right." Koharu said before focusing her powers.

"What were you saying about a decoy?" Kakuzu asked as Koharu searched for Hidan.

病

Koharu sat on a tree limb near where they had found the body, waiting for Itachi and the others to return. Itachi had told her to stay behind to avoid placing her in danger, and since she couldn't safely make it to Yugakure on her own, her only choice was to wait. Abruptly, she became aware of somebody's presence heading directly toward her, but before she had a chance to jump down from the tree, something struck her in the back of her neck. She swayed, quickly losing consciousness and falling out of the tree, only to be caught by in a man's waiting arms.

病

Koharu groaned and opened her eyes, chakra signals flickering in her mind as she regained awareness. A young girl was kneeling next to her.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Fine, I guess." Koharu said as she rubbed her forehead, "But who are you? And where am I?" She took note of the slight swaying beneath her body, "Are we on a boat?"

"That's right. My name is Chino." The girl said. "I'm... a member of the bodyguard detail for Oyashiro En."

"Oyashiro En?"

"He's a weapons dealer who collects kids with Kekkei Genkai." Chino explained, "He kidnapped you from the forest in the Land of Steam, because of your Shinjitsugan."

"How did he even know about that?!" Koharu asked in alarm, "I didn't even sense him in my vicinity until..."

"He approached you at high speed and struck you with a blow gun to sedate you before you could try to defend yourself." Chino answered, "Although I don't know how he learned of your abilities..."

Koharu sighed in frustration. "Where is he taking me?"

"To the Coliseum."

"The Coliseum?"

"It's a place where the rich force shinobi to do battle, and ownership of the losing Shinobi is transferred to the owner of the winner." Chino said.

"...None of that makes sense..." Koharu said in confusion, "How can people own other people?"

"I'm guessing you've lived in relative safety until now..." Chino said sadly.

Koharu snorted, "No, the farthest thing from it. I was born in a shinobi village, but... My father and I were the only ones there with the Shinjitsugan, and... because I was born blind, my Shinjitsugan is constantly active to compensate. It wasn't long before people began to be freaked out by my abilities... I became an outcast, and on top of that, I wasn't allowed to enter the Ninja Academy because of my blindness. Three years ago, I became aware of something that certain people didn't want anyone to know about, and my father and I were targeted. My father lost his life trying to protect me, but... I was saved by a shinobi who was leaving the village and he took me in and made me his student. Ever since then... I've been with a band of mercenaries... essentially living in the underground."

"That's better than me..." Chino said softly, "I have no memories of my parents at all. I can't remember anything before I came to Oyashiro En's mansion. I don't even have a past..."

"True loneliness... Would be to be without a past... a person like that only knows of the present..." Koharu recited softly.

"Huh?" Chino asked in confusion.

"It's from a song..." Koharu explained before she sighed and shook her head. "Why am I being taken to this Coliseum anyway?"

"En wants to test your battle prowess."

"I would think that he would know the Mayonaka aren't exactly renowned for that."

"He gets the feeling that you're an exception."

Koharu sighed.

病

Before long, they had arrived at the Coliseum, and En brought Koharu, along with Chino and another member of his bodyguard detail, Fuushin, to his private room in the building to wait for an opponent that would interest him. Koharu took note of a few things during this, but said very little. After a while, Chino walked up to her.

"You've got a match." She told Koharu, "I'll lead you to the arena and help you up the stairs." Koharu nodded to the other girl and followed her.

"Just so you know, it's best if you try to win." Fuushin told Koharu, "If you lose, you'll wind up belonging to somebody else, and there are some who are worse than En."

Koharu nodded, however, when she drew near the stands, she nearly doubled over, clutching her head.

"What's wrong?" Fuushin asked.

"It's too much..." She whimpered, "All this... this... arrogance and... decadence and... suffering... It's so heavy..."

Chino frowned and walked over to Koharu, "Calm down. Try to focus on just my chakra. You can do that, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Koharu managed.

"Then once you're on the stage, concentrate entirely on your opponent's chakra. Ignore everyone else." Chino told her.

Koharu took a deep breath and nodded.

病

Koharu won the match easily, but En didn't wish to leave the island just yet, so he left Koharu with Chino while he took Fuushin along to take care of something.

"Chino-san...?" Koharu began nervously, "...There's something that I want to tell you... something that I think you should know..."

"What is it?" Chino asked, wondering why Koharu was so uneasy.

"...En is... he's your father..."

"Wh-What?!" Chino exclaimed. "Th... that can't be... if he were my father, then why would he...?!"

"...Perhaps he hopes to drive you down a different path—a better path—than the one that he himself has taken." Koharu said softly, "I know somebody else like that... He doesn't show it on his face, but... I can sense that En... carries the same guilt and regret... as that person... and in the same way that that person loves their only family deeply, En also loves you deeply." She sighed softly and hugged her knees to her chest, "You're wrong you know. Leaving En aside... you're not alone. I can sense that Fuushin-san cares deeply about you as well. He is... a friend with whom you can share your pain. And I bet... there are others... among those at the mansion. You're not like me. It may not be ideal, but... you still... have a place where you belong..."

"A place where I belong?" Chino repeated in confusion.

Koharu nodded, "As I said, Fuushin-san cares about you... and I'm sure there are others at the mansion who do too... But I'm different... I don't have a place where I belong..." Her eyes glistened with tears. "I was forced to flee from my village as a child, and since then, my sensei and I have had to constantly travel from place to place. I can't stay anywhere more than a few days, it seems. I don't have any kind of home... I don't belong anywhere at all..."

Chino sat down next to her, "It's hard isn't it? Having a Kekkei Genkai..."

Koharu sniffled and nodded, "When we were three years old, another village attempted to kidnap one of my best friends because of her family's Kekkei Genkai. Her father managed to stop them, but her family had to pay a terrible price to avoid a war and... to my knowledge, they still continue to suffer from what happened that day... Another such clan in that village... one of the higher-ups hated them so much that he orchestrated their demise from the shadows... It was that same man who was responsible for my father's death."

Chino leaned her back against the wall, "I always thought that the clans like mine that lived in Ninja Villages had easy lives and enjoyed relative safety."

"Far from it..." Koharu told her. "That being said... I know about how the Chinoike were driven into exile... ...but I also know that your father was not responsible for their demise. At least... not entirely."

"What do you mean?" Chino asked.

"My grandparents live in Yugakure, so I'm able to learn things there when I visit them." Koharu explained. "Apparently, years ago, a child went to where they were exiled even though it was forbidden and came back only to report that the place was full of dead bodies, the blood not yet dried. The Village sent shinobi to investigate and they determined that the deaths—at least most of them—were the result of in-fighting among the members of the clan... ...Most likely, living too close to one another led to them killing each other. If someone makes you angry, but you go a little while without seeing them, the anger might go away. But if you see them day after day without ever having a chance to cool down, eventually, violence breaks out. Once one person dies, their family wants to avenge them. Then the family of the other person wants to avenge their relative, and it just keeps going..." She sighed, "The Chinoike probably stayed in that place to avoid the strife brought on by having a Kekkei Genkai, but they would've been better off to have left once the reason they were driven there was forgotten..."

"Yeah..." Chino said softly, no longer sure of what else to say. Koharu stopped speaking, sensing that the other girl was deep in thought over all that Koharu had told her. After awhile, En came back into the room.

"Koharu, you have another match."

"You're not going to enter anyone else today?" Fuushin asked in confusion.

"This particular person is an opponent that only Koharu can fight." En told him.

Koharu sighed and stood up as she walked over to En. Suddenly, perhaps because she'd been too engrossed in her conversation with Chino, she became aware of two familiar chakra signals. She managed to avoid showing the happiness she felt from that sensation and followed Fuushin from the room.

"Now for the main event!" Exclaimed the announcer, "First, wearing Oyashiro En's Tag, the blind beauty who only just made her debut, Mayonaka Koharu!" Koharu nodded to Fuushin to say she'd be all right and then jumped onto the stage, able to determine its location by where the announcer was standing. "And her opponent, wearing the tag of the Akatsuki, the man who slaughtered his entire clan, Uchiha Itachi!" Koharu narrowed her eyes slightly, letting loose a small jolt of lightning that shocked the man as Itachi appeared on the stage. She smiled at Itachi and he nodded to her. Neither of them was even bothering to listen to the announcer—who still hadn't figured out what had shocked him—as he announced the rules. They both knew what this really was.

This was a sparring match between master and student; one that Itachi would inevitably win because Koharu would never be a match for him, but nonetheless, he would go easy on her and use this as an opportunity to help her sharpen her skills–and show them off. Once she lost, she would be rescued and would safely return to being at his side.

Upon receiving the signal to start, Itachi quickly started with a fireball jutsu, which Koharu countered with a Suiton jutsu. In the resulting steam that would serve as a temporary veil, she ran at Itachi, attacking him directly with Gentle Fist Taijutsu, which he easily defended against. Itachi put some distance between them again and threw a handful of shuriken at Koharu, but she merely grinned.

"Fuuton! Reppushou!" A blast of wind from Koharu's palm sent the Shuriken flying back at Itachi instead, although he used a substitution jutsu to avoid getting hit. Koharu, not caught off guard by his crow substitution technique as most people were, turned around quickly and caught his kunai with her own, having immediately sensed that he was now behind her. She jumped back and activated another jutsu, "Suiton! Mizuame Nabara!" She spewed forth the sticky water from her mouth, and Itachi leapt up to avoid it, though Koharu quickly followed up by launching her own Shuriken at him, but he merely deflected them again before charging at her. Koharu formed her signs quickly again, "Raiton! Denkishou!" This time, she combined her Gentle Fist with Raiton. Itachi gave a small smile that nobody could see, but she could sense his satisfaction. Her tactics were improving.

Itachi jumped away from her and wove several signs, "Fuuton! Kiryuu Ranbu!" A blast of swirling wind flew at his young student. Koharu had seen it coming and had released the same jutsu at the same time as Itachi, resulting in a clash of wind that blew through the whole stadium and disrupted the crowd. At this point, it was a clash of who had the stronger chakra, which didn't last long. Itachi's technique overcame Koharu's and the young girl was thrown back by the gale. She quickly righted herself and managed to land on her feet, but instantly realized that she had landed outside of the ring.

"Ring out!" The disheveled announcer declared. "Mayonaka Koharu has lost to Uchiha Itachi! But to be fair, who would've thought that she would put up such a fight against him?"

Koharu snorted in amusement as Itachi landed beside her, "Yeah right. If you had been serious, I'd have been dead within the first five seconds, genjutsu immunity or not."

"They don't need to know that." Itachi pointed out, "And besides, fighting you in earnest without using the Amaterasu or Susanoo would still be more difficult than most other opponents, and not using the Sharingan at all would be completely out of the question. I can only think of a handful of people who would be able to push me to that level."

Koharu blinked in surprise, but then she beamed happily. "Hearing those words from you means a lot to me." Although Itachi didn't move and his expression didn't change from what anyone in the crowd could see, Koharu could sense how he felt in that moment and knew that if they were alone, he would probably pat her on the head to say that she'd done well.

"And now for the ID Tag Transfer." The announcer said as En came out while Konan appeared beside Itachi.

"Well done." En said as he walked up to the group, "I thought if anybody would be able to overcome the Sharingan, it would be Koharu-chan here. She's an unbelievable prodigy who has truly mastered the Shinjitsugan."

Koharu snorted in annoyance. "Ha! That's not why you put me in. You entered me because I was the _only_ chance you had of winning. Fuushin-san's techniques are ill-suited to battling somebody who specializes in Katon, and there was no way you were going to risk losing your daughter in a fight involving the Sharingan. The Ketsuryugan is the only visual prowess with genjutsu that rivals the abilities of the Sharingan, but it's a well-known fact that Uchiha Itachi is a master of genjutsu. Chino-san wouldn't have stood a chance. I imagine that you only place her in fights that you _know_ she'll win."

"You make your own daughter fight here?" Konan asked in disgust, "Just what is wrong with you?"

En sweat-dropped, "I forgot that the Shinjitsugan can detect familial bonds..."

"Don't get too worked up about it, Okaasan. It is messed up, but... he has his reasons." Koharu told her.

Now En looked a little freaked out, "O... Okaasan?!"

"I'm guessing that you're the man who abducted Koharu from the Land of Steam?" Konan said.

"Uh... that is... I didn't think she had any connection to..." En said as he backed away slowly.

Chino ran up alongside her father, "Wha! So the band of mercenaries that you mentioned before is...?!"

"The Akatsuki took me in after my father was killed." Koharu told Chino simply, "They provide me with protection in exchange for my occasionally using my sensory abilities and medical ninjutsu to aid them. I may not have a place to call home, but I at least have my needs seen to and a certain guarantee of safety. That's why I was never overly alarmed after being abducted. I knew that they would come looking for me when I wasn't where I should've been."

Konan nodded, "Koharu has always been an obedient child. The idea that she would just wander off after being told to stay put and wait for us was unthinkable." She glanced around the Coliseum, "This entire place is disgusting, so the Akatsuki will be shutting it down."

"What about the enslaved shinobi?" Koharu asked with concern.

"Amegakure will take them in." Konan told her.

The blue-haired girl turned and looked at her new friend. "What will you do, Chino-san? Under the circumstances, I think you should be the one to decide En's fate."

Chino looked a bit conflicted, but then looked up at her father, "Listen. I'm going to let you go, but send everyone else at the mansion to Amegakure and don't ever use other people like this again!"

En blinked in surprise, but then smiled fondly at Chino and patted her head, "I've always been a foolish father, but somehow, you've grown into a fine young woman despite that, Chino." He looked over at Konan, "I'll do as she says and send all the others in my care to Ame. So... take care of my daughter."

Konan nodded slowly and watched as En ran off whilst all the other patrons were trying to flee from the attack that the Akatsuki was now carrying out.

"You sure about this, Chino?" Fuushin asked with concern.

"It's hard to even think of him as my father, but... Even if he went about it all wrong, he wanted to protect me, in his own way." Chino said.

"Nothing can be solved in the long run by deceiving others." Koharu said thoughtfully, "Conflicts arise when people aren't completely honest with each other. You can't hope to understand somebody else unless you know the truth about them, nor can you hope for them to trust you unless you are honest with them. That is what I believe."

"Koharu?" Konan asked in confusion.

"When I was a child, people hated me because I was always blurting out things that they didn't want someone else to know. However, the problem wasn't me." The young girl said decidedly, "The problem was that they weren't being open and honest with one another and I was exposing their deceit, which created resentment in the one who had been lied to. So people blamed me and feared me instead of simply acknowledging their own faults and correcting them. Ultimately, that was the reason why my father died... the reason that I was forced to flee... Because I realized an imperative truth that others wanted to keep hidden."

Konan's expression saddened at this and she gently hugged Koharu close to her.

* * *

I love being able to show Koharu's thought process as she matures and also the fact that despite being blind, she is very capable in combat. Also, Konan and Itachi are both very protective of her.


	10. Koharu's First Mission

"So what do you have for us this time?" Kisame asked as he, Itachi, and Koharu entered the hideout that they had been called to two years later.

"Actually, the one we need is Koharu." Konan said.

"What do you mean, Okaasan?" Koharu asked in confusion.

"Konohagakure will be hosting their Chuunin Exams in a few weeks, and Amegakure will be sending a few teams of genin to take part." Pain told her, "The Chuunin exams are an important chance for Villages to demonstrate their strength. They also provide an opportunity to gather information."

"Koharu, we want you to take part in the Chuunin Exams as a member of the Hidden Rain." Konan said.

"Huh?" Koharu said in confusion, "But Okaasan, I'm..."

Seeing Koharu's hesitation, Konan placed a hand on the young teen's shoulder. "The Hidden Leaf rejected you and underestimated your potential as a Shinobi because of your impairment. This is your chance to show them that they were wrong about you. And... it's also a chance for you to see your friends again."

"What about the possibility that she could be targeted?" Itachi asked.

"The Leaf will try to avoid having genin die outside of the Exam." Pain replied, "And, we are assigning two strong shinobi that Koharu knows to be her teammates."

"While that does put me at ease a little, what about the matter of qualifications?" Koharu asked with concern, "Technically, I'm not even registered as a Hidden Rain Genin, to say nothing of having completed eight missions."

"That can be easily resolved." Konan assured her, "You've assisted Itachi many times. We'll simply use the mission data for that when we submit your team."

"As for a jonin instructor... We'll have Shirozetsu take on the form of an ordinary shinobi to accompany you." Pain remarked, "Aside from completing the exam, in general, your mission is to gather information about other villages. In particular, we're needing information on Jinchuuriki. Beyond that, you are free to act on your own discretion and respond to situations as you see fit."

"Understood..."

病

"What's the matter, Koharu?" Itachi asked his young student when they were alone, having noticed that she was uneasy.

"While I'm grateful for the chance to see my friends again... I feel... conflicted..." Koharu admitted, "Konoha is where I was born, and it's where most of my friends live. It's also your village. On the other hand, Amegakure is Okaasan's home, and I'm happy to be recognized as a full-fledged shinobi there. Not to mention the matter of Danzō..." She fiddled with a piece of paper in her hands nervously, "I'm not sure which village I'm really a part of and who I should be loyal to..."

Itachi understood the teenaged girl's hesitation very deeply. He had felt the same way when he had been her age and had been caught between Konohagakure and his own clan. He placed his hand on the young girl's head to comfort her.

"Don't think too hard on it. You'll only torture yourself." He said gently, "Even though things seem unclear, follow the path that you believe to be right. Protect that which you feel is most important to you, and I'm sure that you will find your way."

Koharu blinked in surprise, but then nodded. "Yeah."

病

Roughly a week later, Koharu arrived in Konoha with Chino and Fuushin as her teammates and Shirozetsu, who was operating under the alias "Koshiro". Almost as soon as they had checked in and left their things at the inn, Koharu had immediately sought out the chakra signature of Uzumaki Naruto with Chino and Fuushin accompanying her. She managed to locate the boy, along with a handful of other people, including Itachi's younger brother Sasuke, just as a team from the Hidden Sand was taking their leave.

"Naruto?" She asked as Chino guided her around the street corner so she wouldn't collide with a fence.

"Hm?" Naruto turned around, initially seeming confused, but then he exclaimed in surprise and pointed at the girl, "Is that you, Neechan?!" However dense he may have been, even Naruto wasn't capable of mistaking the telltale blue hair of his surrogate sister.

"Yes!" Koharu exclaimed happily, dashing forward and hugging Naruto tightly, "It's been so long! I've missed you!"

Naruto was stunned, "Wh-wh-what are you doing here?" He managed, "You and Touchan just... suddenly disappeared years ago while I was at school, and I was told that they found Touchan's body, but..."

Koharu pulled away from her friend and sighed, "It's a long story..."

"Who is this, Naruto?" A girl that was with Naruto asked in confusion.

"Oh! This is Koharu-neechan! She used to live here in Konoha. She's practically my sister." Naruto explained.

"How do you do? I'm Mayonaka Koharu." Koharu told the girl.

"Haruno Sakura." The girl said with a nod, "Naruto and I are teammates."

"It's nice to meet you." Koharu said before turning to Sasuke, who had been about to leave. "And you're Uchiha Sasuke, right?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her, and Koharu could sense his suspicion, "How do you know my name?"

Koharu smiled awkwardly, "You probably don't remember, but we've met once before. I'm a sensory type. Once I learn a person's chakra, I never forget it."

At that, Sasuke looked confused, "We've met before? When?"

"Um... I think it was the day before you entered the Academy..." Koharu said thoughtfully, "You had injured your ankle and I treated it for you."

"You treated his ankle?" Sakura asked, "How?"

"I'm an iryouninja. I learned the basics at a very early age." Koharu said with a grin.

Sasuke appeared to be perturbed by something, "You're the same age as us, right? How come you never entered the Academy?"

"Because I was born blind." Koharu said bluntly, "The Academy wouldn't accept me for that reason."

"But now you're a shinobi of the Hidden Rain?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

"The Hidden Rain is much smaller than Konoha. They can't afford to be as picky." She told him before sighing. "The Mayonaka and Uzumaki Clans are distant relatives, and my father was close with Naruto's parents. For that reason, when Naruto's parents died, my father took him in and raised him alongside me. However, the Mayonaka Clan carries a unique Kekkei Genkai. Years ago, while Naruto was at school, my father and I were targeted for that reason. My father tried to flee with me, but was eventually killed. I wound up being taken in by the Hidden Rain, which has made itself a haven for shinobi with Kekkei Genkai."

"Yet you couldn't live safely in Konoha?" Sasuke asked.

"There were those in Konoha who feared the abilities of my Kekkei Genkai. You can probably relate to that. Even if I'd been able to find my way back, I would've ended up in the same situation."

Sasuke frowned at this explanation, but nodded in understanding.

"Hey, are you gonna introduce us, Koharu-chan?" Chino asked in amusement.

Koharu looked over at her teammates, "Oh, sorry." She looked back at Naruto and his team, "These are my teammates, Chino-neechan and Fuushin-niichan."

"Don't let Koharu-chan's blindness fool you." Chino said with a grin, "She's actually a very strong shinobi."

Naruto grinned, "I don't doubt it! I'll never forget the time that you knocked Hinata's cousin on his butt when we were kids!"

"It was his own fault for making Hinata-chan cry." Koharu scoffed, "But I know much more than just taijutsu and iryouninjutsu now. I'm also skilled in Fuuton, Raiton, Suiton, and I've even gotten good at shuriken jutsu."

"How does someone who can't see use shuriken jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"I can't see man-made objects, but I can see the chakra of people, animals, and plants." Koharu replied, "I can also copy techniques in a manner similar to the Sharingan. My mentor made use of those things to teach me shuriken jutsu."

"I didn't know your eyes could do that." Naruto said in amazement.

"It's an advanced ability." Koharu said, "Very few people in the history of my clan have reached that level. There's something to be said for using it nonstop like I do though."

"Nonstop?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"I wouldn't be able to see at all if I didn't." Koharu explained, "Now then, judging by his impatience, Naruto, I'm guessing you were supposed to be doing something with Konohamaru-chan?"

"How did you know my name?" The young child piped up.

"I can sense similarities between your chakra and that of Lord Third." Koharu explained.

"Still, I can't believe you're going to go and play 'ninja' with them." Sakura said to Naruto in exasperation.

"Don't criticize him for it, Sakura-san." Koharu said, "Naruto may not get much benefit from it, but it helps to foster the younger kids' growth, and that's just as important."

"I guess I didn't think of that..." Sakura admitted.

Koharu grinned at the pink-haired kunoichi before forming a sign. "Let's see... seems like Hinata-chan is training with her teammates... same for Ino-chan, I'm guessing."

"You know Hinata and Ino?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Of course." Koharu replied, "Hinata-chan was my best friend when I lived in Konoha and Ino-chan is my distant relative, just like Naruto. I'll go say hi to them later. For right now, would you guys like my help in training for the Chuunin Exams?"

"I don't need help." Sasuke insisted.

"Oh?" Koharu asked with a smirk, "So you've already learned how to use Raiton then?" This caused Sasuke to pause and Koharu grinned, turning her head toward Naruto and Sakura, "Naruto and Sakura-san, if you want, I can help you two learn how to use Change in Chakra Nature techniques. I can't use Doton and Fuuton is difficult to learn, but I can teach you Suiton."

"You can tell our chakra natures just by being near us?" Sakura asked in shock.

"Of course." Koharu said, "That's pretty common with abilities like mine."

"Actually, you started teaching me Fuuton when we were kids, Neechan." Naruto reminded her, "But just when I was ready to learn actual techniques..."

"Oh that's right. That'll make it easier then." Koharu said thoughtfully. "Anyway, go on ahead with Konohamaru-chan and his friends. We'll work on your jutsu later."

"Right!" Naruto said with a salute before running off.

"...Hey..." Sasuke began, "You said you remember the chakra of everyone you've ever met, right? What are the chakra natures of Uchiha Itachi?"

"Huh? Uchiha...?" Sakura murmured.

Koharu sighed, "I should've figured you'd ask that... truth be told, your chakra natures aren't particularly well-suited to combating his. Uchiha Itachi can use both Fuuton and Suiton, which Katon and Raiton are both weak against, and unlike Naruto, you don't have three chakra natures. Having that many is actually rather rare. In both Naruto's case and mine, it may have something to do with our abnormally high chakra reserves. ...I don't have any explanation for Hatake Kakashi though. He can use all five natures, which is practically unheard of, but his reserves are actually rather small." She shook her head, "Regardless, that's not to say there is no use in learning Raiton. Raiton can be easily combined with Suiton to expand one's range, and it can break through Doton quite easily. Katon can also be combined with Fuuton to enhance the power of the attack. You could even combine Katon and Suiton to create a veil of steam to temporarily conceal your movements if you need to make a quick escape. Getting all three of you to be able to make use of your chakra natures would be ideal in this case. The Chuunin Exams place a heavy emphasis on teamwork from what I've been told."

"Yeah, but... Can Naruto learn something new in such a short amount of time?" Sakura worried.

"His chakra control stinks, but he actually has a great deal of talent for ninjutsu. Those that don't require a great deal of precision, anyway." Koharu told her, "And he learns by doing. He already knows the fundamentals of Fuuton, so he'll be fine. _You're_ the one I'm worried about, to be honest. Sasuke-san has an edge in that he already knows how to use Change in Chakra Nature, but I'll have to start from the beginning with you."

"There's no way that you can manage training three people by yourself in only a week, Koharu-chan." Chino remarked, "Fuushin and I will help you. I can teach Sakura-chan to use Suiton while you work with Sasuke-chan on Raiton. When Naruto-chan's ready, Fuushin can help him learn Fuuton."

"That's a good idea." Koharu said with a nod.

"One last thing." Sasuke said, "Why are you guys offering to help us? You're from the Hidden Rain."

"Because Naruto is basically my little brother for one thing." Koharu told him, "Besides, I've sensed a presence in Konoha that has me concerned, and I want to make sure that you three will be all right during the exams. Something tells me that you might end up in the middle of things." A slight sadness crossed her features as she grasped her arm, "Besides... you and I are a lot alike, Sasuke-san. We both have Kekkei Genkai and we're both believed to be the last of our clans. We're both alone... in a world where there's nobody quite like us."

"Koharu-chan..." Chino said sadly.

Koharu sighed and then straightened her shoulders, "Well, anyway, I ought to see to my own training as well for the next week." She bit her thumb and wove a few signs, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" A falcon appeared out of nowhere and hopped onto Koharu's outstretched arm. "Chino-neechan, would you mind writing a message for me and placing it in the pouch?"

"Sure, what do you want it to say?" Chino asked as she took out a pad of paper.

"I've returned to Konoha for the Chuunin Exams. Come find me when you're done training with your team and let's spar like old times. Mayonaka Koharu."

Chino wrote down the message as Koharu had said and placed it in the carrier pouch on the falcon's leg, after which, Koharu released it to the person she had in mind. "Well then, let's get going." She said to Sasuke and Sakura, "Nothing's gonna get done standing around here."

病

Hours later, the group of young shinobi stood panting on the third training ground. Well, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were panting. Since they were mostly just giving instruction, Koharu and her teammates hadn't even broken a sweat.

"All right, that's enough for today." Koharu said calmly, "Let's meet back here tomorrow at 9am."

"Hey, hey, Neechan! Do you wanna come stay at my place while you're in the village?" Naruto asked, but Koharu smiled sadly.

"As much as I'd like that Naruto, I need to stay in a _tidy_ environment. I don't feel like repeatedly tripping over things and falling flat on my face." She told him.

"Oh yeah. I guess my place wouldn't be a good idea then." Naruto admitted.

"Speak for yourself." Sasuke remarked, _"My_ half of the apartment is spotless."

"Wait, you guys live together?" Sakura said in confusion, "How did I not know this?"

"I've been stuck with him ever since we both lost our families." Sasuke remarked, "It happened on the same night, so the Hokage thought it would be easier to have us be roommates."

Koharu sweat-dropped, "Well in any case, I would probably still have trouble with an apartment building, but don't worry, we have lodgings."

"Well in that case, see you tomorrow!" Naruto said before running off.

"Bye!" Sakura added as she also took her leave.

Koharu sighed as she clutched her arm behind her back, "I really do envy you, Sasuke-san..."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"I told you before that we're alike, but you actually have it better than I do." Koharu replied, "Your family is gone, but you still have a place to call home and people who will come running to your aid whenever you need them. Those people are constantly by your side. You shouldn't take them for granted."

"What about you?" Sasuke asked, "Don't you live in the Hidden Rain? And you seem pretty close with your teammates."

Koharu shook her head, "The Hidden Rain is difficult for me to navigate because there's water everywhere. For that reason, I'm hardly ever in the village, or even the Land of Rain itself. I mostly travel with my teacher on missions abroad. Chino-Neechan and Fuushin-niichan are my friends, but we don't see each other all that often. We were assigned to the same team for these exams because our superiors knew we were compatible. I don't really live anywhere or have people who are there for me the way that Naruto and Sakura-san are there for you. I don't... have a place where I belong..." She sighed as she turned toward him, "All things considered, you're really lucky, Sasuke-san. Sakura-san loves you and I can tell that Naruto thinks of you as a brother. This place where you belong... the comrades who treasure you... don't take them for granted. They can't replace what you lost, but at the same time, they're something precious that you should protect." She bit her lip nervously, "I know that you want to avenge your family, and I can also understand those feelings, but... If you become too focused on revenge, you'll lose the precious things that you have now. In the end, all you'll be left with... is nothing."

"How can you be so sure about that?" Sasuke asked, seeming slightly annoyed.

"Because that's how it is for me." Koharu said, "Even if I could avenge my father, it wouldn't ease the pain of losing him... he'd still be gone, and in the end, nothing would change. I would start with nothing and I would end with nothing. You're different. If you avenge your family, you'll lose what you have now. You'd start with something precious and end with nothing at all. Not exactly a pleasant thought, right?" She smiled wryly, "Besides... there's more than one way to get back at someone."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"If someone truly wishes to hurt you and make you miserable, then the greatest revenge of all... is to be happy. By seeking to live exactly the way they don't want you to be, you make all their efforts wasted." She told him with a grin, "That's the best revenge of all."

* * *

Koharu's interactions with Sasuke are rather interesting in this IMO. As Itachi's student, she naturally wants to protect the person that Itachi cares about most. At the same time, her own philosophies differ from Itachi's a bit, which will cause her to go against him a little.


	11. The Chuunin Exams: Written Test

The following week flew by as Koharu and her teammates helped Team 7 to expand their repertoire of ninjutsu. By the second day, Hyūga Hinata had joined them as well, as after sparring with Koharu at her family's estate, Koharu had offered to give her more personalized training that week and Hinata's instructor, Kurenai, had agreed it was a good idea.

Sparring with Hinata was also for Koharu's own benefit, but the teenaged girl also enlisted the help of one of Konoha's elderly residents, a man known as Gen-ojii, to help train Sakura and Hinata's minds by using genjutsu. Sakura vaguely wondered why she was the only member of her team who had to do this. Koharu and her teammates wound up staying at the Hyūga estate at the invitation of Hinata's father, who had always believed Koharu to be a good influence on Hinata and was thankful for her help in Hinata's training. "Koshiro" mysteriously disappeared after this and Koharu had little interest in going to find him.

病

Finally, the day of the Chuunin Exams arrived. Hinata had to go meet up with her teammates first, so Koharu, Chino, and Fuushin went ahead of her. Fuushin carried Koharu on his back as they went up the stairs to the second floor of the Academy, since she found stairs to be hazardous. Upon reaching the second floor, they found a group of examinees crowded outside of a classroom, arguing with two people who were blocking their way.

"What's going on?" Chino wondered.

Koharu sighed, "A cheap trick, that's what. We need to go up one more floor. Even I can tell that much."

"But they're blocking the hallway... what should we do?" Fuushin questioned.

"Just run on the wall to go around them." Koharu remarked. "I can hold on."

Fuushin and Chino nodded, generally being unnoticed as they ran up the wall behind the crowd and jumped to the floor on the other side. The only people who did notice were the two who were at the center of the argument, along with a boy with dark brown hair, and a girl who was his teammate. The boy narrowed his eyes at the sight of Koharu's midnight blue hair.

"What was that all about?" Fuushin asked as he set Koharu down when they had reached the third floor.

"Probably something set up to test the rookies who are taking the exam this time around." Koharu replied as she began following Chino. "Kind of useless against me since I'm immune to genjutsu and don't even notice transformations. I didn't want to announce that to the entire crowd though."

Chino and Fuushin nodded as they entered the classroom. Hinata's Team 8 arrived shortly after them, followed by the rookie Team 10. The eyes of Yamanaka Ino lit up upon seeing Koharu. "Oh? Koharu! Is that you?!" She exclaimed happily.

"Ino-chan!" Koharu replied happily as she hugged her friend, "It's been so long! Truthfully, I've been wanting to come by your family's shop all week, but I've been so busy training!"

"I freaked out when I heard that you had just disappeared!" Ino told her before noticing the headband secured around Koharu's ponytail. "How did you end up becoming a ninja in Amegakure?"

"It's a long story." Koharu told her with a wry smile.

A moment later, the door opened and the team from downstairs entered. A fleeting glare passed between the boy with the brown hair and Koharu before he and his team joined the others.

"What was that about?" Ino's teammate, Nara Shikamaru asked.

"Nothing." Koharu replied. "Just something that happened a long time ago."

After a few more minutes, the members of Team 7 finally entered the room. The three of them stopped after walking in the door, appearing shell-shocked.

"A-Amazing..." Naruto mumbled.

"W-What's with... this...?" Sakura managed, realizing that a room full of genin of all ages were glaring at the three of them. It was clear to Koharu that Sakura was highly intimidated by the older applicants.

"Sasuke-kun, you're late!" Ino squealed girlishly, suddenly latching onto Sasuke from behind. Sasuke glared at the girl in pure annoyance, but Ino apparently didn't notice. "I thought I'd be able to see you for the first time in awhile, so I was waiting in excitement."

Sensing that Sakura was about to lose her temper—and amazed that Sasuke hadn't already lost his—Koharu grabbed ahold of her friend's ponytail to pull her off of the preteen boy. "All right, that's enough, Ino-chan." She said sternly, "Haven't you ever heard of a little thing called personal space? Sasuke-san doesn't like having people in his."

"Yeesh, what's with you?" Ino asked as she adjusted her hairband—Koharu hadn't pulled her ponytail all that hard—before pretending to suddenly notice the already fuming Sakura. "Oh my. Sakura-chan! Your Billboard Brow hasn't changed, eh... Ugly!"

"What did you say?!" Sakura demanded.

"That's enough, Ino-chan!" Koharu scolded, "It's not in your nature to be so unkind! Knock it off!"

"Sakura-chan, if you keep making that face, it's going to get stuck like that." Chino warned like a mother hen. Both girls sheepishly calmed down.

"Are you guys going to take this bothersome exam, too?" Shikamaru asked.

"They're here, so I think that goes without saying, Shikamaru-san." Koharu pointed out.

"Oh, it's the idiot trio." Naruto remarked.

"Naruto, don't be rude!" The blue-haired girl snapped, slapping the back of her younger brother's head.

"Really, quit calling us that!" Shikamaru agreed. "Man, this is such a pain..."

The third member of Ino's team, Akimichi Chouji, said nothing, but just kept munching on his bag of chips.

"Sasuke-kun is mine!" Ino taunted Sakura.

"I think he has a different opinion about that..." Koharu remarked in frustration.

"Yahoo, I found you!" A boy from Hinata's team exclaimed as they walked over. "My, my. Everyone's here."

"G-Good afternoon..." Hinata managed, feeling shy around the whole group as usual.

Naruto smiled at her, but was obviously annoyed with the boy, who Koharu identified as Inuzuka Kiba, judging by the small dog atop his head. The third member of their team said nothing, but Koharu had learned from Hinata that his name was Aburame Shino.

"What did you say? You guys too?! Man." Shikamaru remarked.

"Ha! I see." Kiba began, "This means all nine Genin Rookies are taking the exam, eh...! Now then... How far can we go? Eh... Sasuke?"

Sasuke smirked, "Hmph! You're mighty confident, Kiba."

"We've trained a great deal, so... we won't lose to you guys!" Kiba replied.

"Shut up!" Naruto replied, "I don't know about Sasuke, but I sure won't lose to the likes of you!"

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun..." Hinata said softly, "Kiba-kun didn't mean it like that..."

Naruto smiled at her, "Don't worry about it, Hinata. I wasn't including you when I said that." Hinata blushed and smiled happily.

Koharu sighed in exasperation. "You guys are so lively..." She turned and gave Chouji a strange look as she sensed that he was looking at Kiba's dog, Akamaru, with hungry eyes. As the Akimichi boy stepped forward, Shino stepped in between him and Kiba to stop him.

"What?" Chouji asked in annoyance. When Shino looked down, Chouji followed his gaze to a bug crawling on the floor.

"Don't step on it." Shino told him.

"Huh?" Chouji said in confusion.

"I said, don't step on it." Shino replied.

"You're... gonna eat that?" Chouji asked.

Koharu sighed and face-palmed. "Really Chouji-san... you don't at least know enough about Shino-san's clan to understand this much...?"

"Hey, you guys!" A voice that had Koharu instantly on guard said. "You should be a little quieter."

Ino started to say something, but was quickly cut off by Koharu as she blocked the shinobi's path. "I'll thank you to keep your distance from my friends and I... Yakushi Kabuto..." She glared at the man despite her lack of vision, "Any 'advice' you might have is unwanted. They have _me_ and my teammates to look after them. I suggest you go back to your own." Kabuto glared for a moment at Koharu, but then quietly backed off as she had said. Koharu sighed as she relaxed her body slightly.

"What was that about, Neechan?" Naruto asked.

"That man... Yakushi Kabuto..." Koharu began, speaking just loud enough for the group to hear her, "Be careful around him. Don't let him get too close to you. He may seem nice, but he is not to be trusted. Trust me, he's as fake as they come."

"If you say that, Koharu-chan, then it must be true..." Hinata replied.

"Hm? You believe her just like that, Hinata?" Kiba asked.

"Kiba's right." Shikamaru remarked, "Most of us don't know anything about you. How can we trust for sure that you're right about that guy? I mean, you're from the Hidden Rain and he's from the Hidden Leaf..."

"No." Sasuke said flatly, "From what I've seen while training with her this past week, there's no doubting her. She can read people like a book."

Everyone trusted Sasuke's assessment of a person's abilities, so the conversation ended there. "Even so..." Koharu began as she shifted her weight to one leg and put her hand on her hip, "I won't say that he was wrong. You guys really should quiet down. Take a good look around." The others did as she said, immediately realizing that they had become a focal point of hatred within the room.

"You guys are the Rookie Nine. You haven't even been out of the Academy for six months. The Chuunin Exams aren't a field trip by any means, but you guys are kind of acting like this is one." Koharu pointed out, "Well, that naïveté on your part can't be helped. You're newbies who don't know left from right. Most of you haven't really been out in the world enough yet to learn about these things. Listen, it's rare that rookies are recommended for this exam, so everyone's a little jealous of you and the talent that being recommended in your rookie year represents, and being so lively when they're all so tense doesn't really help."

"I know those guys behind you." Fuushin remarked, referring to a group of shinobi standing behind the Rookie Nine, "They're from Amegakure just like us, and they have bad tempers."

Koharu nodded to Fuushin, "Even so, if they're smart, they won't try anything. Otherwise, they're going to find out exactly why I was recommended for this exam." She turned back toward her friends, "That being said, I've heard that these exams are really hard, and that most people have taken it multiple times."

"Eh? Then is this your first time, Koharu?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"That's right." Koharu said. "Officially, I only became a genin recently, so I'm technically a rookie too, but I've been accompanying my sensei on missions for so long that I probably have more experience than all of you combined. Chino-neechan and Fuushin-niichan have been in Amegakure for two years now, so they're definitely not rookies."

"Can you give us any information that might be helpful?" Sasuke asked.

"Let's see..." Koharu said thoughtfully, "The Chuunin Exams are held twice a year by Konoha and its allies and serve as an exhibition of friendship on the surface, but are actually to ensure a balance of power. Without such a balance, smaller nations would be open to attack. Two of the Five Great Shinobi Villages take part. One is of course, Konoha. The other is Sunagakure. The other villages that are taking part this time around are Takigakure, Kusagakure, Otogakure, and my own Amegakure. There are 10 teams from Sunagakure, 8 teams from Ame including mine, 5 from Kusagakure, and 4 from Takigakure. Naturally, as the host nation, Konoha has the most applicants, with a total of 15 teams."

"What about the other village you mentioned?" Sakura asked. "Otogakure?"

"Hm, Otogakure is a new shinobi village, so not too much is known about it, and they only sent one team, but..."

"But...?" Shikamaru asked.

"Be careful." Koharu warned, "It's the enemy you know nothing about that is the most dangerous."

"Do you have any information on individual applicants?" Sasuke asked.

"I have some. Who is it that you want to know about? Can you describe them?" Koharu asked.

"Gaara of the Hidden Sand and then... Rock Lee of the Hidden Leaf." Sasuke replied.

"Heh, names makes it even easier." Koharu replied, "Let's see... Rock Lee is one year older than us, and this is his first exam. His mission experience is 20 D-Ranks and 11 C-Ranks. His teacher is Might Guy. He's very skilled at Taijutsu and decent with shinobi tools, but... his capacity for genjutsu and ninjutsu is essentially nonexistent, which explains why he was placed under Guy-san. It's his first year taking the exam, same as us. His teammates are Tenten and... Hyūga Neji."

"Oh great..." Naruto muttered.

"I wish I could say that he's changed over the past five years, but... I've already sensed his chakra, and trust me, he hasn't." Koharu confirmed.

"So you and Lee have a history?" Sakura asked.

"No, not Lee-san. Neji." Koharu clarified. "It's a long story, but... to be honest, Neji is a more formidable opponent than Lee. It's not a matter of being more skilled, so much as he uses a more... dangerous style of taijutsu."

"I doubt he can beat you, Neechan!" Naruto said with a grin.

"That remains to be seen." Koharu replied, "I've grown stronger since we were children, but I'm sure he has as well. Currently, there's no way of knowing which of us has grown more. Anyway, back to the information... Let me think... Gaara of the Desert... This is also his first year taking the exam. He's completed 8 C Ranks and 1 B Rank... I guess the Sand doesn't bother with assigning his team to menial tasks like dog-walking... His abilities are widely unknown, but... going by his chakra... I'd say he's capable of Jiton, Fuuton, Doton, and Raiton, assuming he actually makes use of any of those, and probably has an extremely high defense. His chakra reserves are extremely high, almost as high as Naruto's. His teammates are his older siblings, Temari and Kankurō."

"Where did you get all of that information?" Sakura asked in amazement.

"Well the more basic data was given to me by my superiors, but... The other information about Gaara are things that I gleaned from reading his chakra." Koharu said with a grin before looking more serious, "I've heard that he's never been injured on a mission... you should be careful."

"Even though he's taken on a B-Rank as a Genin?" Shikamaru asked.

"There are others here with even more impressive records in terms of mission completion." Koharu replied, shifting her eyes subtly toward the members of Team 7. "However, Gaara's chakra indicates that he is an extremely dangerous individual. Just remember this... It's not just Lee-san and Gaara-san. All of the people here are all top choice elite Genin from different nations. Of course, that includes my own team. This exam will _not_ be easy."

Naruto began trembling, which caused Sakura to worry about him, but Koharu could only sweat-drop as she sensed what was coming. Sakura stepped forward to try and cheer her teammate up, but was interrupted by Naruto screaming for no reason as he turned and pointed at the room full of applicants. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I won't lose to any of you! Got it?!"

"What's with him?!" Ino screamed at Sakura in a panic as Sakura tried desperately not to lose her temper with Naruto. "It won't do any good to provoke everyone!" She screamed in Sakura's ear.

"Don't tell me that!" Sakura exclaimed.

"If I don't tell it to you, then who do I tell it to?!" Ino demanded.

"What did you say?!" Sakura screamed back.

Naruto sighed happily, "I feel better." He declared.

"Hmph." Sasuke said with a smirk.

Abruptly, Koharu burst out laughing, causing all of them to look at her in surprise as she clutched her stomach, unable to stop. The others all stared at her as her exuberant laughter continued. "Naruto! You haven't change at all!" She exclaimed with a smile before suddenly embracing her younger brother, "I missed this so much! I really am glad to be back in Konoha!"

"Oh, really?" Naruto said with an awkward grin. Chino and Fuushin both smiled at the sight of Koharu's delight.

Suddenly Koharu sensed the three Hidden Sound shinobi springing into action and narrowed her eyes as she let go of Naruto and put some distance between them. One suddenly leapt into the air and threw a pair of kunai at her, but Koharu deflected them effortlessly with her own. She speedily wove two signs and clapped her hands together, "Suiton! Suirou no Jutsu!" When the second Sound ninja appeared and attempted to strike her, an orb of water suddenly formed around her and protected her. The shinobi's eyes widened and he backed off. Koharu smirked as she released her jutsu, creating a puddle of water on the floor around her. "Nice try, but an attack of that level won't work on me. Your strategy is rather predictable. In the first place, you expected that I would dodge those poorly thrown kunai rather than deflect them, which then required you to alter your course. That much was easy to see. The rest, well, 'a shinobi should always be two steps ahead of their enemy'. Remember that if you want to live long enough to make Chuunin."

"I didn't know you could use that jutsu on yourself!" Naruto exclaimed, remembering what a pain in the butt it had been to free Kakashi from said jutsu during his team's mission to the Land of Waves.

"Although intended to immobilize an enemy, Suirou no Jutsu can also be used defensively." Koharu informed him.

"But that jutsu is from the Hidden Mist." Sasuke remarked. "How did you learn it?"

"I've traveled to many different places with my sensei and learned a wide variety of jutsu." She explained.

Suddenly there was a burst of smoke at the front of the room. "Silence! Degenerates!" A stern voice exclaimed. Close to a dozen shinobi had suddenly appeared in front of the chalkboard, the speaker at the center of them, smirking at the entire group of 159 genin. "Sorry to keep you waiting... I'm the proctor for the first test of the Chuunin Exam, Morino Ibiki."

"Oh? How interesting..." Koharu said quietly.

"What is?" Chino asked, but Koharu only shook her head.

Suddenly the proctor pointed at the three shinobi standing in front of her. "You, from the Hidden Sound!" No doing as you please before the Exam! You want to be failed at the get-go?!"

"Please excuse us." The one who had tried to attack Koharu directly replied, "It's our first time taking the Exam, so we flipped out... despite ourselves." Koharu shook her head in annoyance at that, but said nothing.

Ibiki smirked again, "Hmph. This is a good opportunity, so I'll tell you. There will be no battles, competitions, and the like without the permission of the proctors! And even if you get permission, actions that could lead to the death of an opponent will not be permitted. Any pig that screws with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?!" After a beat of silence, he added, "You there, young lady from the Hidden Rain. I'll commend you for defending yourself without retaliation."

Koharu smiled a little and bowed politely, "Thank you very much. I would be an embarrassment to my village if I were to engage in a fight with our allies before the exam has even started."

Ibiki nodded to her, "That's right. It seems Amegakure has taught _its_ genin well."

The Sound Ninja who had thrown the kunai at Koharu grinned, "Seems like this exam will be easy." Koharu sighed in annoyance at his attitude as all of the proctors merely smirked at the examinees and chuckled to themselves.

"Now then, we will start the first test of the Chuunin Exam!" Ibiki announced. "Turn in your applications, take one of these number cards in exchange, and sit in the seat matching that number!"

Koharu sweat-dropped at this. "Uh-oh..."

"After that, we will hand out the paper for the written test!" Ibiki continued.

"Written...? Paper...?" Naruto muttered in confusion. "Paper..." When one of the proctors held up a stack of papers, the blond suddenly panicked, "A paper test?!"

Koharu hung her head, "How am I supposed to...?" She curled her arms close to her body nervously. Chino took her by the hand and led her toward the front of the room to turn in their applications. When Koharu received her number, she showed it to Chino, who quickly found the young girl's seat and began leading her to it. One of the proctors noticed this and asked, "What do you think you're doing? That's not where your seat is!"

"My teammate is blind." Chino replied plainly, "She can move around by using other senses, but there's no way for her to read these numbers. I'll go to my seat once she's in hers."

Upon hearing this, several of the other shinobi in the room began to chuckle at the thought of a ninja who couldn't see. The boy who had thrown the kunai at Koharu earlier chuckled, "With a written test, that brat's gonna fail right from the start."

"But don't you think it's strange?" His female teammate remarked, "Even though she can't see, she saw right through your attack earlier. Her defense against it was flawless. She even deflected your kunai."

"So either her hearing is on par with ours," The third member said, "Or she uses some other kind of sensory ability in battle..."

It turned out that Naruto wound up seated next to Koharu with Hinata on the other side, although he scarcely seemed to notice since he was silently panicking over the prospect of a written test.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata said from where she was sitting beside Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up at her, "Oh, Hinata! Since when have you...?" Koharu face-planted on the desk.

"Let's both do our best, shall we?" Hinata said with a smile.

"Y-Yeah..." Naruto managed.

Ibiki tapped on the chalkboard with a piece of chalk to get everyone's attention. "There are several important rules to this first test." He began. "I will take no questions, so listen well accordingly! First off is the first rule!"

_'I think that goes without saying...'_ Koharu thought to herself as he wrote on the chalkboard.

"You are given ten points each from the start!" Ibiki explained, "The written test has ten problems in all! Each problem is one point."

_'Even Naruto can do that math...' _The Mayonaka girl thought sarcastically.

"And, this test is a point-deduction system." Ibiki continued, "You are deducted one point for each problem you get wrong! If you get three wrong, you'll have seven points!"

_'We're genin, not first graders!'_ Koharu thought to herself again, starkly missing Itachi's far harsher instruction. Naruto nodded beside her. Thus far, even he was following this absurdly easy explanation.

"The second rule:" Ibiki began, "Pass or failure will be determined by the total points of the three-person teams." At this, everybody seemed alarmed. Koharu heard Sakura face-planting on her own desk behind her. Likely, she was freaking out about Naruto's lack of academic ability.

"W-Wait a minute!" She exclaimed as she looked back up, "What do you mean... total points of the teams?!"

"Shut up!" Ibiki told her. "There's a perfectly good reason for this! Shut up and listen! If you've got it, here is the most important next rule! Those who are deemed by the proctors as having committed an act of cheating or something similar to that... Will have two points deducted for each act."

"What...?" The person sitting beside Sakura asked. Sakura herself gasped.

Koharu smirked to herself, _'In that case, I'll be fine. With my Shinjitsugan constantly active, nobody will be able to tell that I'm copying off of somebody else by mimicking their handwriting!'_

"In other words..." Ibiki began again, "There may be those who will be dismissed during this test without waiting for test grading. Know that those who commit awkward cheating... will bring ruin upon yourselves."

_'In other words, cheat if you need to, but don't get caught. That much is the same as Sensei's exam eight years ago.' _Koharu thought to herself, recalling all that Itachi had told her about the exam as a means of preparation.

"I'll check you anytime." A proctor that Koharu knew to be called Hagane Kotetsu remarked.

_'Well, he could not have made **that** statement sound more awkward...'_ The blue-haired girl thought.

"If you aspire to become Chuunin at all, know that shinobi should act like exemplary shinobi." Ibiki told the applicants. Behind her, Koharu could sense Sakura trying to analyze the situation and calm down. "And, in the case of even one person on the team getting zero points..." Ibiki began again, "Everyone on that team will fail!"

Koharu instantly sensed Sasuke's panic, followed by Sakura screaming out, "What did you say...?!"

Naruto gulped nervously. Koharu sighed. _'After all, a test on one's ability to gather information is almost worse than a regular written test for Naruto. His information gathering skills are nonexistent, and that's assuming he even figures out what he's supposed to do.'_

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked in concern.

"By the way, the last problem will be given forty-five minutes after the start of the test!" Ibiki added. "The time for the test is one hour." He watched and waited for the second hand on the clock to reach the twelve before announcing, "Begin!"

Koharu trained her Shinjitsugan on Hinata's right hand, even following the other girl's movements in order to find her pencil. When Hinata began writing down her answers, Koharu mimicked every movement that her hand made, with the exception of where she sensed Hinata was writing her own name. Even while doing so, she was able to observe those around her. Naruto was in a complete state of panic, Sakura actually understood the problems, but was apparently concerned about her teammates and Sasuke...

From Koharu's viewpoint as Itachi's student, Sasuke took a painfully long time to realize that he was _supposed_ to cheat.

The teenaged girl sighed as she sensed that beside her, Naruto had begun trembling and moving his pencil at random. However, she had to keep her focus on Hinata at least enough to write down her answers properly. It was a good thing that Hinata had very neat handwriting.

Now, given her abilities, Koharu specialized in gathering information to a point. Even while copying Hinata, she could tell that Kiba was getting the answers from his dog, the Hidden Sound ninja were using the sounds of nearby people's handwriting to find the answers, Shino was using his insects to spy on other examinees... She idly wondered how it was that _none_ of the proctors seemed to realize that Tenten was... judging by the movements of her fingers, using wires to control mirrors attached to the ceiling with kunai. How did she even set that up without being noticed?! She also wondered why _nobody_ was saying anything about the puppet that had been placed among the proctors. Koharu couldn't actually see said puppet, but she could see the chakra strings extending from the fingers of Gaara's brother, Kankurō.

Beside her, Naruto was still panicking and at the same time, worrying about failing his team.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata said softly, causing Naruto to look at her. "I'll show you... my test." She offered.

Naruto considered this. He had known Hinata forever, but he also knew that Kiba would love for him to fail, and Hinata wasn't exactly a strong-willed person. "Hinata, let me ask you one thing." He replied softly, "Why would you offer to show me your test?"

Hinata blushed, "I... don't want you, Naruto-kun... to leave at this stage..."

Naruto grinned. It was obvious that he believed himself to be lucky to have wound up next to his childhood friend. Hinata slid her paper toward Naruto to let her look.

Koharu sweat-dropped. _'If this isn't "awkward cheating", I don't know what is...' _She thought.

Suddenly a kunai flew right past Naruto and hit the test paper of somebody behind them, scaring the poor genin in question half to death, and Naruto along with him. The genin stood up and looked at Kotetsu. "W-What was that for, sir?!"

"You made five mistakes. You fail!" Kotetsu sneered.

"N-No way..." The genin said in disbelief.

"His two buddies, both of you get out the classroom, right now." Kotetsu added. Two more genin stood up and the three of them reluctantly left the room.

"#25 fails! #43 and #27 fail!" The proctors announced. Koharu absently wondered which seat she was even in. The genin had to be dragged out screaming by his teammates.

"Hey, hey!" Another shinobi demanded when he was declared to have failed, "Do you have proof that I cheated five whole times?!" Koharu managed to learn from Hinata and Naruto that this guy was from the Hidden Sand.

_'What a dumb question to ask.' _Koharu thought to herself, _'In most cases, there's no such thing as physical "proof"'.'_

"Really, are you guys properly checking this number of people...?" The shinobi demanded. He was suddenly slammed into the wall by one of the proctors.

"Listen up..." The proctor began, "Even among us Chuunin, we're elite who were selected for this exam. We don't overlook you blinking once... In a manner of speaking, this strength is the proof."

"Don't you know anything?" Koharu asked without looking back at the shinobi, "Even a single sensory type could monitor everyone at once with very little issue. Well, depending on their abilities anyway." One of the Chuunin nodded to her in agreement.

Meanwhile, Naruto was trembling in panic at the displays around him.

"Naruto-kun...?" Hinata asked with concern. "Hurry... look..." She added before looking away.

However, Naruto became distinctly aware of Kamizuki Izumo, the proctor nearest them, who seemed to be daring him to cheat. He faced forward again and smiled wryly. "Hinata... you don't get it, do you?"

"What...?" Hinata asked.

"An awesome ninja like me won't cheat!" He said with a grin.

"N-Naruto-kun... But..." Hinata looked at the boy's blank answer sheet.

"Also, if something went wrong, you'd be in a hot spot for helping me cheat, right?!" He pointed out.

"What?!" Hinata exclaimed softly with a blush, her heart melting at his concern for her. She looked away, "I'm... sorry... I-I did something uncalled for..."

Naruto chuckled, "Nah, it's okay."

Sensing Naruto's confliction about placing Hinata's success above his own, Koharu sighed. _'My little brother is both smart and stupid at the same time... but more importantly, he's honorable.' _She smiled to herself, _'I guess it can't be helped. I'll lend him a hand.'_ Since she and Hinata had finished writing their answers, Koharu lowered her hands beneath the desk and wove a series of signs before placing her hand on Naruto's head. "You've really grown since we were kids, Naruto." She told him. _'Tsunagari kokoro no jutsu.'_

Naruto's eyes widened as Koharu's voice entered his head. _"Naruto, listen to me, the point of all this is to test your skills at gathering information, but you're not good at that kind of thing and you aren't academically gifted either, so I'll tell you the answers using my jutsu. Write them down exactly as I say. Problem one..."_

Koharu only placed her hand on Naruto's head for a second before removing it. The jutsu she had used was a Hiden Jutsu of her clan for transferring information in an instant, and didn't require her to maintain a constant connection. Even if any of the proctors had wondered her reason for placing a hand on Naruto's head, they'd have no way of knowing what she had done.

Meanwhile, from what Koharu could sense, Sakura was writing her answers at a ridiculous speed, Hyūga Neji was using his Byakugan to look at another person's answers, and Sasuke had activated his Sharingan and was mimicking another person's handwriting the same way that she had. When she saw that Sakura was finished, Ino used her Mind Transfer Jutsu to enter Sakura's body and view her answers, and Koharu wondered how exactly nobody besides Shikamaru and Chouji noticed that the Yamanaka girl was passed out in her seat. She also wondered why exactly Shikamaru was waiting for Ino to pass the answers onto him and not just answering on his own. He had the smarts and he was going to have to write down the same thing either way. She could also sense that Chino was using genjutsu to communicate the answers to Fuushin.

"#59 fails!" A proctor announced.

"#33! #9!" Another added.

"#41 fails!"

"#35, #62, fail!"

"No way!" One of the genin exclaimed before crying out in pain as he was taken down by the proctor.

Koharu sensed that Ibiki was impressed by the stoicism of Gaara of the Sand and also sensed said genin gathering sand-infused chakra into his hand and... somehow connecting it to the optic nerve of his left eye? He used this to view another person's test after distracting them with literal sand in their eye.

"Excuse me." Gaara's older brother Kankurō said politely as he raised his hand.

"What is it?" Someone replied.

"I need to go to the toilet." Kankurō replied. He was swiftly handcuffed with a rope tied to the chain.

"We will accompany you to the restroom." Said the one holding the rope.

"I see." Kankurō replied as he followed.

Koharu rested her cheek in her hand. _'Really? Nobody's going to say anything about the fact that that's a puppet and he's the puppet master?' _She thought to herself.

Five minutes later, Koharu straightened up as she sensed Ibiki about to say something.

"All right!" Ibiki began, "Here is the tenth question!"

Koharu could sense Naruto panicking slightly, Sasuke feeling annoyed, and Sakura ready for the challenge. Gaara's sister Temari appeared worried about the fact that Kankurō had not yet returned.

"But before that, I'm going to add some rules for the last question." Ibiki said. At that moment, Kankurō walked back in with his puppet, seeming surprised by the stillness in the room. Ibiki smirked, "Aren't you lucky? It looks like playing with the dolls wasn't a waste, after all?"

Koharu smirked. So somebody _had _noticed. With more than 160 people in the room, she hadn't been paying a great deal of attention to Ibiki's chakra up until now.

"Well, it's fine. Sit down." Ibiki said to Kankurō. Kankurō did as he was told, leaving his puppet behind and passing something to his sister as he walked by. "Well then, let me explain!" The head proctor began, "These are the hopeless rules!"

Koharu raised a brow at that, wondering what he meant.

"First, you guys will have to choose whether or not you will take this tenth question!" The Head Proctor announced.

"Huh?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"What, choose?!" Temari asked in confusion, "What happens if you choose not to take the tenth question?"

"If you choose not to take it, then your score will be zero." Ibiki replied, "In other words, you fail! And of course, the same goes for the two others in the same group!"

"Wh-what do you mean?!" Somebody asked, "Of course, everybody is going to take the question! This is ridiculous! As if we have a choice!"

"And... one more rule..." Ibiki began while flat out ignoring the outburst, "If you choose to take it and are unable to answer it correctly, then you will have to... relinquish your right of taking the Chuunin Exam forever."

Koharu gasped, but she wasn't startled for the same reason as everybody else. It was because of the flare that she felt in Ibiki's chakra when he said that. _'He's lying through his teeth!' _She thought to herself, _'There is no tenth question. Or rather, whether or not to attempt it **is** the tenth question.' _At that moment, her mind locked into somebody in the room whose reaction mirrored hers.

"What kind of ridiculous rule is that?!" Kiba demanded. "Besides, there are plenty of people here who have taken the Chuunin Exam many times!" Akamaru yipped in agreement.

Ibiki chuckled, "You're just unlucky." He replied, "I make the rules this year. But I did give you the option to go back! For those of you who aren't confident, you can choose not to take it and take the exam next year or the year after that." He chuckled again and Koharu frowned as she sensed the other examinees beginning to panic. This guy's sadism reminded her vaguely of Kisame. "Well then, let's begin." Ibiki said, "The tenth question... Those who will not be taking it, raise your hands! Once I confirm your number, I'll ask you to leave!"

Koharu could sense Naruto panicking, as well as Sakura's desire for him to back out for his own sake. She sensed the guy sitting on her left caving in even before he stood up. Within seconds, numerous others raised their hands as well. Koharu sensed Sakura resolving to raise her hand for Naruto's sake, but then he raised his own. She could sense that her little brother's heart was still wavering, but then a sudden burst of determination filled him and he slammed his hand on the desk.

"Don't underestimate me! I won't run!" The blond declared boldly, "I'll take it! But even if I'm stuck being a Genin forever, I will become Hokage, no matter what it takes! I'm not scared!" He sat down and crossed his arms and Hinata found herself smiling.

Koharu suddenly burst out laughing, causing Naruto and Hinata to look at her. "That part of you... is so much like what Papa used to say about your father!" She told her brother with a sunny smile, causing Naruto to smile sheepishly. Ibiki smiled a bit, thinking that Koharu was right. This part of Naruto did resemble the Fourth Hokage. The blue-haired girl could sense Sasuke's resignation at Naruto's loud-mouthed declaration, as well as Sakura's fondness for Naruto's unwavering determination.

"I'll ask one more time." Ibiki said, "It's a choice that will alter your life. If you want to quit, now's your chance!"

"I'm not going back on my words!" Naruto declared confidently, "That is my Nindou!"

Koharu sensed Ibiki's amusement at not only Naruto's words, but the effect they had on everyone else. "I like your determination!" He said, "Well then, for those who are still here... The first exam... You have passed!"

Everyone else except for Koharu and the one girl she had sensed was surprised by this statement.

Naruto dropped his pencil in shock. "Huh?"

"H-Hey, what does that mean?!" Sakura asked in confusion, "All of sudden, you're telling us we've passed! What about the tenth question?!"

Ibiki laughed, "There wasn't such a thing to begin with!" He said with a goofy grin. "Well, you can look at the choice you just had to make as the tenth question!"

"What?" Sakura asked.

"Hey!" Temari exclaimed, "Then, what were all those nine questions for?! It was just a waste of time!"

"Not at all..." Ibiki replied, "The objective of the nine questions was already accomplished. To test your individual ability to gather information!"

"Ability to gather information?" Temari asked in confusion.

"First... the focus of this test was on the system of determining the pass or failure based on the three-person groups that was proposed in the first rule. By grading the exam on a group basis, I added the unimaginable pressure of dragging down your teammates." Ibiki explained, "However... the questions on this test weren't things that you Genin Ninja would've been able to solve... So in that case... I imagined that most of you here would have come to this conclusion: 'In order to score points, I'll have to cheat.' In other words, this exam was created under the premise that you all would cheat! That being said, I had two Chuunin in the group who knew all of the answers from whom you could cheat."

"That much was obvious." Koharu remarked, "This exam is taken by groups of three-man cells, but the number of people seated was not a multiple of three. There were originally 159 applicants, but 161 people writing down answers. Even without knowing the exact numbers, these desks are set up in rows of twelve, so you could easily tell there were two people too many."

"Eh, really?" Naruto said. His sister sighed.

"However..." Ibiki continued, "Those who just foolishly cheated, naturally were disqualified." He reached up and took off his bandana-type forehead protector, "That's because... information, depending on the time and situation, it will be more valuable than life. And in a mission or on the battlefield, you will always have to risk your life to fight for it!"

As the others murmured over something that Koharu supposed she couldn't see, her expression became more serious. _'That reminds me. Sensei entrusted me to turn over intel to the Hokage! I need to take care of that before the second exam! But I have to move carefully. If the Akatsuki finds out about it, it will be both our lives! Kisame does **not** mess around when it comes to leaking intel!'_

"When information is gathered and the enemy or a third party finds out about it, that information is no longer guaranteed to be correct." Ibiki told them, "Just remember this: To be given the wrong information can bring a catastrophic blow to your comrades and village. So that is why, out of necessity, we forced you guys to cheat in order to test your ability to gather information. And we filtered out those who were clearly lacking in those abilities."

"But... the last question doesn't make any sense." Temari replied.

"However," Ibiki began, almost as if he hadn't heard the kunoichi, "This tenth question was the main issue of this first exam."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"I'll explain." Ibiki replied, "The tenth question was to take on the question, or not. Needless to say, it is a painful decision to make. Those who chose not to take on the question would be immediately disqualified, along with their whole squad! Those who chose to answer the question and got it wrong... would be robbed of their chance to take the Exam forever. It really is an unfair question."

"However, there are other ways to be promoted outside of the Exam." Koharu pointed out.

"That's true." Ibiki admitted, "Then, how about these two choices? Let's say you guys did become Chuunin. The mission is to steal a secret document! You have no idea how many ninja the enemy has, their ability, and other armament they may have. On top of that, there may be the pitfalls of an enemy trap. Now this mission... Will you take it? Or not take it? Because you want your life spared... because your comrades will be put in danger... Can you get away from dangerous missions? The answer is... No! There are going to be missions you cannot avoid, no matter how risky or dangerous it may be! Showing your courage to your comrades in a tight spot, and the ability to get through the hardships... This is the quality that is needed in a Chuunin troop leader! In a pinch, there are those who cannot risk their own fate, and those who waver and give up their chances because they think they will have another chance. I believe that such fools who don't have strong determination have no right to become a Chuunin! For those of you who chose to take on the question, you can say that you have successfully answered the difficult tenth question! You shall be able to take on the adversity that may lie in your way. You've passed through the gates! The first exam for the Chuunin Exam has been completed. I wish you well!"

"All right! Wish us well!" Naruto exclaimed happily, "I did it! I did it! Yeah!"

Koharu smiled, but then was distracted by something to her left. Abruptly, somebody came flying through the window and put up a curtain using kunai.

"Wh-what the?!" Naruto exclaimed in alarm.

"You guys! This isn't the time to be celebrating!" The woman who had burst in announced. "I'm the proctor for the second exam! Mitarashi Anko!"

Koharu face-planted on her desk again, wondering what this instructor's parents were thinking when they named her.

"Let's move onto the next stage! Next!" Anko declared. "Follow me!"

_'She's almost as lively as Naruto...'_ Koharu thought with a sweat-drop. The Uzumaki boy in question was just staring bug-eyed at the woman. Abruptly, his sister became aware of something else within this proctor, _'What is... that...?'_

Ibiki stepped out from behind the curtain slightly, "Read the atmosphere." He said in annoyance, causing Anko to sweat-drop before she looked back at the group and mentally counted the number of examinees remaining.

"84?!" The proctor exclaimed when she realized how many people were left, "Ibiki! You let 28 teams slide by? I guess the first exam this time around was too easy."

"It seems like this time, there are a lot of excellent candidates." Ibiki replied cooly.

"Huh! Well, all right..." Anko began, "I'll drop more than half of them in the second exam!"

Sakura gasped, "M-More than half?"

"I'm getting excited." Anko said, "I'll give you the details tomorrow. We'll be changing locations, so get information from your Jonin about the location and time! That's it. You're dismissed."

_'Great.'_ Koharu thought as she slid out of the desk, _'That means I'll have to actually go and **find** Shirozetsu...' _She walked over to Anko, "Um, excuse me, Sensei?"

"Hm? What is it?" Anko asked.

"By any chance, have you ever..." Koharu's attention was drawn by a flare in Kabuto's chakra and she decided that now was not a good time, "No, never mind." Leaving a confused Anko behind, Koharu turned and hurried over to the girl she had sensed earlier. "Hey, you're from the Uzumaki Clan, aren't you?"

"Hm? How did you know that?" The girl asked, seeming a bit nervous.

"Ah, there are similarities between your chakra and that of my little brother, Naruto." Koharu explained, nodding to Naruto as he walked over to her after hearing his surname mentioned.

"You're a sensory type?" The girl asked.

"Yes." Koharu said with a nod, "My abilities are related to the Mind's Eye of Kagura." The girl was obviously stunned by that statement. "I'm Mayonaka Koharu. My clan descended from the Uzumaki Clan. And you are?"

"Uh, I'mma..."

"Hey, Karin!" A boy called, causing the girl's chakra to flare nervously, "Stop dilly dallying. Let's go!"

"Um—" Karin began before Koharu suddenly put her arm around her shoulder.

"Sorry, but could my brother and I borrow your teammate for a little while? We hardly ever get to meet other relatives from the Uzumaki Clan. I mean, you won't be needing her until tomorrow anyway, right?"

"Tch. Even if you're related, what's a girl from the Hidden Rain doing acting all friendly with someone from the Hidden Grass?" The boy replied.

"Oh? That's funny, considering you think of her as an outsider and don't actually consider her to be your comrade." Koharu returned, "There was was a member of the Uzumaki Clan who was also treated as an outsider when she first moved to Konoha... Let me think, who was it...? Oh yes. The Fourth Hokage's wife, Uzumaki Kushina."

At that, both the boy and his other teammate tensed up. "Th-The Fourth Hokage...?"

"And when I stop to think about it, the First Hokage, who founded this village, Senju Hashirama, was also married to a woman of the Uzumaki Clan by the name of Mito. The Senju and the Uzumaki go way back you know. The Uzumaki Clan is held in very high esteem here in Konoha. Their crest is even used as a sign of friendship and worn by all Konoha Shinobi ranked Chuunin and above on their flak jackets."

Both boys gulped. "Uh, never mind us Karin. Just make sure you come back by dark or Sensei will get mad." One of them said before both fled from the room, practically tripping over themselves.

Koharu laughed as she removed her arm from Karin's shoulders and Karin looked at her. "Um..."

"Don't worry about it." Koharu said with a kind smile, "They bully you, right? I could tell by the fluctuation in your chakra. I know all too well what it's like to be mistreated because you're unique, and I can't stand to see it happen to others."

"By my chakra...?" Karin asked in confusion.

"Oh that's right. My sensory abilities are slightly more advanced than yours." Koharu replied, "My Kekkei Genkai was created from something of a merging of the Mind's Eye of Kagura and the Byakugan when a member of the Uzumaki married a member of the Hyūga centuries ago. It's pretty useful, but also a tad troublesome at times." She turned to start walking toward where she believed the door would be.

"Uh, Koharu, you're about to–" Fuushin began, but he was too late. Koharu ran into a desk and wound up with her upper half sprawled on top of it.

The blue-haired girl sighed. "And then there are _some_ days when it would be _really_ nice to be able to see physical obstacles like a normal person..." Ino sweat-dropped and Kiba raised a brow as Fuushin walked over to help Koharu off of the desk.

"Does your Kekkei Genkai make you blind to everything but chakra or something?" Kiba asked.

"No. It's _supposed_ to be a visual prowess." Koharu replied, "My blindness is due to complications when I was born. Without the Shinjitsugan, I wouldn't be able to _see_ at all." She sighed. "Anyway, let me introduce you to my friends, Karin-chan. This is my brother, Uzumaki Naruto. The reason why we're shinobi in different villages is... complicated." She sweat-dropped before continuing, "And these are his teammates, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. This is Naruto and mine's childhood friend, Hyūga Hinata, and her teammates, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. And then this is another of my distant relatives, Yamanaka Ino, and her teammates, Akimichi Choji and Nara Shikamaru. And of course, these two from the Hidden Rain are my own teammates, Chino-neechan and Fuushin-niichan."

"U-Uh, n-nice to meet all of you..." Karin said nervously.

"Same here!" Naruto said, "I've never actually met somebody from my clan before!"

"Huh? But...?" Karin began in confusion.

"Naruto's parents died when he was born." Koharu explained, "That's why we're siblings. My father raised us both until he died five years ago."

"Oh..."

Koharu smiled brightly at the girl, "Come on, lighten up! You can relax around us! We're not gonna treat you like those jerks from the Hidden Grass! In fact, I'm gonna see if I can't find a way to help you get out of that situation."

"Huh?" Karin asked in confusion.

Koharu smiled and then turned to the others. "All right! Now that we've passed the first exam, why don't we all head out for some Ichiraku Ramen? I haven't been there in _forever!_"

"You realize that it's only a few hours before dinnertime?" Shikamaru asked.

"I've been burning chakra this entire time. If I don't eat something soon, I'm going to pass out. Literally." Koharu replied.

"Sorry Koharu-chan, but the three of us always go to Yakiniku to eat." Ino apologized. "Hey! Let's go see if we can get Asuma-sensei to treat us for passing the first exam!"

Koharu sweat-dropped at this.

"I could go for a bite. What about you guys?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, but... Chichiue will get angry if I don't eat dinner later." Hinata remarked.

"Dinner's what, two hours from now?" Koharu asked, "You'll be fine as long as you only eat one bowl, Hinata-chan."

"All right." Hinata agreed.

"You come too, Karin-chan." Koharu said.

"O-Okay."

"Well, they're a lively bunch." Anko remarked to Ibiki when the group had left.

"You should've seen them _before_ the first exam." Ibiki replied, "But to think that _that's_ Mayonaka Koharu... She's become really strong."

"Oh? I'm looking forward to seeing that." Anko replied, "It's funny to see her surrounded by friends, given the way things were when she was little." She frowned slightly, "Still... I wonder what it was she was going to ask me about...?"

* * *

Good grief! Long chapter! And I hate when I have to do so much research to make sure I keep things relatively straight... It was long because I wanted to do the entire first test of the Chunin Exam in a single chapter. The next chapter will probably be short, and from there... I'm not sure how I'll divide things up. As much as I love writing about Koharu's interactions with Itachi, this part is a little bit more interesting for me because we get to see her acting on her own and making her own choices.


	12. The Shape of the Truth

"Ah! Man, that was good!" Koharu exclaimed happily as she finished her ramen. Naruto was on his fifth bowl, Sasuke had just finished his second, and Kiba was starting a third. Koharu herself had only ordered one bowl, but had ordered a second serving of noodles. Everyone else had just had a single serving.

"I'm surprised you're not eating more, Koharu-chan." Chino remarked. She had come to realize that Koharu's stomach was practically a bottomless pit due to her constant use of the Shinjitsugan.

"I don't want to insult Lord Hiashi by not eating dinner at the estate." Koharu explained. "By the way, what time is it?"

"It's almost five." Fuushin answered.

"Good. I have just enough time." Koharu replied as she handed her wallet to Chino so that she could count out the money for her. "I need to go to the Hokage's office before heading back to Hinata-chan's place. Let's go."

Fuushin and Chino looked at each other in mild confusion, but nonetheless followed their youngest teammate. When they were just outside the door leading to the office, she turned and looked at her teammates, "Chino-neechan, why don't you go find our 'instructor' to get the info for tomorrow's test? Fuushin-niichan can stay here with me."

"Good idea." Chino acknowledged before turning to leave.

Fuushin knocked on the door of the office for Koharu and upon hearing permission to enter, pushed it open for her.

"Shitsureshimasu." Koharu said as she entered the office.

The Third Hokage looked up at her and her eyes widened in surprise, "Oh! Koharu!"

Koharu smiled a little. "It's been a long time, Lord Third." She turned to Fuushin, "Sorry, but would you mind waiting outside? The topic that I need to discuss is a little... touchy..."

Fuushin nodded, assuming that this was somehow related to the death of her father and went back outside. When he had shut the door, Koharu wove a series of kata before placing her hand on the door. "Oto naku no jutsu." The formula for the sealing jutsu radiated out from her hand and spread across the entire room before vanishing. She turned and faced Hiruzen. "Sorry, but what I came to discuss really is rather sensitive." The Hokage nodded in understanding as she walked over to his desk, "First, I should start with the most important matter." She reached into her waist pouch and pulled out a scroll before setting it on the Hokage's desk. "My shishou asked me to deliver this to you on his behalf."

"Your shishou?" Hiruzen asked in confusion.

"I'm sure you already know that my father was killed by members of Root." Koharu replied, "On that night, I was rescued by a kind-hearted shinobi who promised my dying father that he would look after me. Given the date of this event, I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

Hiruzen's eyes widened slightly, and then he nodded subtly before picking up the scroll and unfurling it. "This is..."

"Working undercover as a spy for the Leaf is pointless if the spy never sends back actual intel." Koharu explained.

Hiruzen nodded in understanding and carefully hid the scroll away to be examined later. "So you know everything about that matter then..."

"I've always known." Koharu replied, "My father realized it that day and intended to warn you, in order to give you a chance to stop it and resolve things peacefully, but... Root found out and targeted us. It's impossible to lie to me, even for my sensei, so I've always been aware of how things are. Nonetheless, he saved my life that night and molded me into the kunoichi that I am today."

"Then how is it that you came to be registered with the Hidden Rain?" The Hokage asked.

"It worked to their advantage..." Koharu admitted slowly.

"You're conflicted." Hiruzen remarked sagely, "Officially, you are a shinobi of the Hidden Rain, so you should be loyal to them, and yet, you risked your life by bringing vital intel–five years worth of it–to Konoha."

"To be honest, I don't know who I should be loyal too..." Koharu admitted anxiously, "Konohagakure is my birthplace and it's where most of my friends live. But there's someone precious who ties me to Amegakure as well, to say nothing of my duties as shinobi. There's also the fact that I was forced to flee from Konoha..." She sighed and shook her head, "But there is one thing I am certain of. I am loyal to my sensei, so I will do as he asks of me. At any rate, I have some other information for you. Information that my... superiors... won't be concerned with my passing on."

"Oh?"

"I'm concerned about one of the applicants for this exam: Yakushi Kabuto. I happen to know that he is a subordinate of Orochimaru. Pretty much everyone in the Akatsuki knows this." Koharu said.

"Kabuto, you say?" Hiruzen looked thoughtful, "The Yakushi Kabuto that I know is the son of the previous head of the medical corps. This is his fourth year taking the Exams."

"The Yakushi Kabuto that you know is nothing more than a persona." Koharu said bluntly, "That man is so misguided, even _he _doesn't know who he is anymore. But I _do_ know that he is loyal to Orochimaru."

"I see..." The Hokage replied while puffing on his pipe.

"Kabuto being here for the Exam may just be a means to avoid suspicion... but I have my doubts." Koharu admitted, "Before today's written test, he tried to gain the trust of the Rookie Nine. I managed to interfere with that, but it has me concerned..."

"Why is that?" Hiruzen asked her.

"Roughly two-and-a-half years ago, Sensei and I were attacked by Orochimaru and Kabuto. Orochimaru's aim was to capture Sensei for some sort of immortality jutsu. A kinjutsu, I'm sure. At that time, I was injured by Kabuto, but fortunately, Orochimaru lost to Sensei very badly, and Kabuto was forced to help him escape. However, Orochimaru's objective is quite clear. He wants the Sharingan. At the time when he attacked us, Sensei was sixteen. Sasuke-san will be thirteen later this month. I assume that Orochimaru will have to settle for somebody else this time around, but when the next cycle for his jutsu comes around, Sasuke-san will be sixteen years of age, just like Sensei was."

"In other words, you think that Orochimaru is targeting Sasuke now, and he sent Kabuto to gain his trust?"

"Most likely." Koharu said with a nod, "But I can't be certain. Even if Orochimaru is here in Konoha, I can't expand the range of my Shinjitsugan enough to span the entire village, so it would be difficult for even me to locate him. However, if he is planning to target Sasuke-san, it will likely be sometime during the second exam, when all of us will be unsupervised in the Forest of Death for five days."

The Third Hokage's face became troubled, "If what you're saying is correct, it may be best to take measures to ensure Sasuke's safety."

"No." Koharu said, "If the authorities of Konoha interfere directly, Orochimaru is sure to retaliate. That could bring disaster on the village. Place ANBU to watch over him for tonight, but I'll keep an eye on Sasuke-san myself during the second exam. After all, the one who can most easily outmaneuver a snake is a mongoose."

Hiruzen chuckled at this.

"Speaking of which, I have information regarding Orochimaru and a certain elder of Konoha." Koharu told him.

"Oh?" Hiruzen asked with a brow raised.

"When Orochimaru and Kabuto attacked us two years ago, Kabuto let it slip that Danzō had intended to hand me over to Orochimaru after his subordinates killed my father. It would seem that even though Orochimaru left the Leaf years ago, the two of them still have a connection with one another."

The Hokage nodded, "I'll look into this further."

"There's one other thing I'm worried about, which may or may not be related to Orochimaru." Koharu told him, "One of the Genin from the Sand, Gaara... I can sense that he's a jinchuuriki. That in itself doesn't bother me, but what does concern me is that unlike Naruto, he is... mentally unstable. Actually, that's putting it mildly. It might be more accurate to say that he's a homicidal maniac."

Hiruzen sweat-dropped at this, "There's no doubting your assessment of a person, Koharu, but why would the Hidden Sand send such an unstable jinchuuriki to these Exams?"

"That's what I'm worried about..."

病

Koharu and her teammates arrived back at the Hyūga Estate only to find Sasuke standing outside.

"Sasuke-san? What are you doing here?" Koharu asked, and the black-haired boy turned to look at her.

"I wanted to ask you about something." Sasuke said, "What happened the—"

"Stop." Koharu said as she held up her hand. "I already know what you're going to say. It's not exactly a casual subject, so we shouldn't discuss it in the street like this. Come inside and have dinner with us and I'll tell you about it after that."

Sasuke looked confused as he followed her and her companions, "How do you know what I want to ask? I recall you pointing out very plainly that you can't read minds."

"That's true, I can't." She admitted, "But your chakra gives me at least an idea."

After a quiet meal with the Hyūga head family—at which Koharu apologized profoundly for bringing an extra guest unannounced—she and Chino led Sasuke to the guestroom that they were sharing.

"Fuushin, could you guard the door?" Chino asked, to which Fuushin nodded. She closed the door and watched as Koharu applied her sealing jutsu to the room.

"There. That should prevent anyone from listening in on us." The blue-haired girl replied before turning to Sasuke, "Now then, the reason you came here. You want to know what happened to me the night that I vanished from Konoha, correct?"

"That's right." Sasuke replied, seeming slightly suspicious, "It took me a little while to remember it since I don't really know you, but... I realized that you disappeared on the same night that my clan was destroyed."

Koharu carefully sat down on the floor in a _seiza_. "How did you realize that? I've made a point to avoid mentioning it."

"On that day, five years ago, Naruto and I were both asked by a teacher at the Academy to stay late for an extracurricular lesson on shuriken jutsu." Sasuke explained as he also sat down, "For that reason, I wasn't home when... it happened. When I woke up in the hospital the following day, Naruto was there, and he told me that on that same day, he had arrived home to find the place empty, and that he was later told that his father had been found dead and that his older sister had disappeared. I didn't think much of it for a long time. But when you showed up in Konoha and Naruto called you 'Neechan' and talked about you disappearing when we were kids, I remembered, and then I wondered if it was really a coincidence." He narrowed his eyes slightly at her, "Was Itachi—"

"He wasn't responsible for my father's death, if that's what you're wondering." Koharu said bluntly. "I can't really discuss the details, but... your brother was not the one who killed my father, nor the reason for my disappearance." Her head lowered with sadness, "You know all too well that those of us with Kekkei Genkai are prone to being feared and hated by other people, especially when it comes to visual prowess. There were those in Konoha who feared the powers of the Shinjitsugan, and who especially feared me. My early awakening and constant reliance upon it has resulted in my mastering its abilities to a level that very few have ever reached. For this reason, there were those who viewed me as a threat to Konoha. Thus, certain people conspired to remove me from Konoha. My father was just in the way of that. I didn't return, or even try to return, because it was too dangerous. Naruto and I were both outcasts. There were few in the village who would have any interest in protecting us from harm. Returning after my father was killed might've put my brother in danger."

"Are these people linked to what happened to my clan?" Sasuke asked.

"I can't answer that." The young girl told him with a shake of her head, "Saying anything more about the matter than I already have could put you in danger." She lifted her head towards him, "However, I will give you some food for thought. Why would the most powerful wielder of a Kekkei Genkai want to wipe out those with the same power? Clans like ours are normally wiped out or forced into exile because people fear us. Your brother had no reason to fear the members of your clan."

"He claimed it was to 'test his abilities.'" Sasuke replied, and Koharu snorted.

"Yes, because that's how people normally test themselves. By killing their own family." She said sarcastically before shaking her head, "Only a complete lunatic would do that. I didn't come into contact with your brother too much back then, but I do know this: the Uchiha Itachi I encountered the day before you entered the Academy one year earlier wasn't a lunatic. He was a kind-hearted person who loved you more than anything in the world."

"You expect me to believe that?!" Sasuke demanded, "Everything he ever told me was a lie!"

"Was it?" Koharu asked flatly, "People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define 'reality'. But what does it mean to be 'correct' or 'true'? Those are merely vague concepts. One person's 'reality' may be an illusion crafted by another. In that case, can we consider them to be simply living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs? My mentor taught me that. The hardest illusions to escape from are not those formed by genjutsu, but those which are formed by the lies that we believe. Instead of simply assuming that the Itachi you grew up with was an illusion and the one you saw that night was real, shouldn't you at least consider that it might be the exact opposite? Or is your 'reality' so fragile that it can be shattered and reshaped in a matter of moments?" Koharu shook her head as Sasuke's eyes widened in astonishment, "I admit that I don't completely agree with my shishou. To me, truth is something that cannot be changed. Even if one is living in an illusion or deceived by a lie, the form of the actual truth, of what is real, does not change. No matter how you look at it, two plus two will always equal four." The teenaged girl carefully stood up, "Even if I spoke to you about what happened to your clan, you'd have no way of knowing if what I was saying was real or not. For one thing, I wasn't there, and even if I was, I am not incapable of telling a lie myself. If you want answers, Sasuke-san, then you must determine the real shape of the truth for yourself. But I will warn you, knowing the truth as it actually is will be very dangerous. To even try to find it will mean risking your life. And no matter what the correct form is, it will be very difficult and painful to bear. If you intend to search for it, you must be prepared for those things."

Sasuke looked at her for a moment before nodding as he stood up. "I understand. Thank you for answering me. Most of what you said was pretty vague, but... I get it. I can't just ask someone and assume they're telling me the truth. I need to ascertain what's real for myself."

* * *

Originally I was just going to end this with Koharu's conversation with the Hokage, but then it occurred to me that Sasuke is smart enough to figure out, or rather, remember, that Koharu vanished from Konoha on the same day his clan was killed and realize from there that it wasn't a coincidence that both he and Naruto happened to stay at school for an extra lesson in shruiken jutsu (in the books and anime, it is only Sasuke and some random other students, but I added Naruto since this is an AU). These two things led him to the conclusion that A: Itachi had had at least one co-conspiritor who had arranged for the both of them to be absent from home when they otherwise would not have been, and B: In that case, it was possible that Itachi also had something to do with what happened to Koharu and her father. He was actually going to ask if Itachi had been involved with the death of Koharu's father and her subsequent disappearance, but Koharu cut him off so that she wouldn't have to outright lie, because even though she is able to lie, she despises doing so. Chino and Fuushin, of course, know that Itachi is actually Koharu's mentor, but they are also aware that this is a taboo subject while in Konoha.


	13. The Chuunin Exams: The Forest of Death

The following day, Koharu and her teammates were heading toward the 44th training ground that the applicants were told to assemble at for the second test. However, they were still about a kilometer away when Koharu abruptly stopped.

"What's the matter, Koharu-chan?" Chino asked in concern, noticing Koharu's horrified expression. A moment later, she closed her eyes in concentration before snapping them back open, biting her thumb, and weaving a series of signs. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" She exclaimed while placing her hand upon the ground, causing two falcons to appear in a puff of smoke before her. She took two scrolls and two containers of special ink out of her waist pouch. Unfurling the first scroll, she quickly wrote a message upon it, the ink disappearing as soon as it dried. She rolled the scroll up, tied it, and then placed it in the pouch upon one of the falcons' back. The falcon leapt upon her forearm when she held it out to him and she stood up. "Take this to Sensei as fast as you can." She said before raising her arm to launch the falcon. She knelt on the ground again and scrawled another message in the other ink, rolled and fastened the scroll, and then placed it inside the pouch of the other falcon before allowing it to hop up onto her forearm. "Deliver this to the Hokage." She commanded before raising her arm again. She shoved the two ink containers back into her waist pouch and continued forth.

"What was that all about?" Chino asked as she and Fuushin followed their younger comrade.

"This exam just got a whole lot more dangerous." Koharu replied cryptically.

病

They arrived at the training ground to find all of the other genin gaping at the trees of the massive forest before them.

"There's something kind of creepy about this place." Sakura said with a disturbed look on her face.

"Oh trust me, it's worse than it looks." Koharu remarked as she walked up to Team 7, "I can see way farther in than you guys can."

"How do you know how far we can see?" Sasuke asked.

"Well unless your Sharingan have suddenly changed into Byakugan, there's no way that you can see past the initial tree line of this place." She pointed out, which Sasuke couldn't really argue with.

Their head proctor Anko grinned and chuckled, "This place is called 'The Forest of Death'. You'll soon realize why."

Naruto exhaled through his nose in annoyance before placing his hands on his hips and dancing like a chicken, "'The Forest of Death, you'll soon realize why.'" He mimicked childishly as Sakura's expression changed to pure annoyance, Sasuke tried to pretend that he didn't actually know the blond, and Kabuto and his team just stared in mute astonishment, all of which went unnoticed by Naruto. "That kind of threat won't work on me one bit! I'm not scared-ttebayo!" He boasted.

Anko smiled cheerfully and tilted her head, "Really? You've got a lot of energy." She abruptly threw out her right hand, causing a kunai to slide out of her sleeve before she grasped the hilt and threw it. The kunai grazed Naruto's cheek before hitting the ground near some genin behind him. The next thing the boy knew, Anko was standing behind him, having moved with such speed that only Koharu had been able to see it. "A kid like you dies at the very beginning..." She warned before grasping Naruto's uncut cheek and reaching up with other hand, "...Dappled in the red blood I like." She moved to wipe some of the blood from his cut, then suddenly tensed and turned slightly, shooting out her left hand to bring forth another kunai and holding it up defensively. The woman from the squad that had been standing behind Naruto held out Anko's original kunai using her tongue.

"I'm returning... your kunai..." The woman said slowly.

"Thank you for taking the trouble..." Anko replied, "...But... don't stand behind me, thirsty for blood. If you don't want a quick death..." She warned while taking back her kunai.

The woman retracted her tongue and replied, "Well, it's my nature to act up at the sight of red blood. And my precious hair was cut, so I got excited..."

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata whimpered.

"My bad, huh?" The kunoichi remarked as she turned and walked back to her group. Sakura watched the whole thing with an expression that was even more disturbed than before, instinctively on guard as the woman passed her. Naruto held his cheek, staring at the other genin in curiosity as he held his cheek before sticking his tongue out in imitation of the woman.

Anko was still grinning, "Evidently, we've got a lot of hot-blooded kids this time." She remarked. "This will be fun."

Naruto glared up at the woman, still holding his cheek. "Naruto, let me treat that." Koharu said suddenly, pulling his hand away and reaching up to treat the wound, "Geez, this is what you get for acting like a nine-year-old!" She scolded, "You're not in the Academy anymore. You're a genin already. Grow up a little!"

"M-My bad, Neechan..." Naruto sulked, having forgotten the feeling of being scolded by his sister after all these years.

Koharu sighed in exasperation, "Good grief..." She muttered, "To think that there's actually a special jonin who's..." The rest of her sentence was so mumbled that even Naruto couldn't make it out, leaving the boy very confused.

"Well then, before we start the second exam, I have to pass this out to you!" Anko announced as she walked back to where she had previously been standing, having not heard Koharu's mumbling at all. She pulled a stack of papers out of her trench coat and held them up, causing the genin to stare at her in confusion.

"It's a consent form." Anko explained. "Before you can take part in the test, you have to sign this."

"Why?" Naruto asked as Koharu lowered her hand from his face.

"From here on out, corpses are going to come out, I have to get your consent to that!" Anko explained, "Or it'll be my responsibility." She added a little too cheerfully before laughing. The genin all stared at her with varying expressions. "Well then, I'm going to start the explanation for the second exam." She said as she handed the stack of papers to Naruto, who took one and handed the others to Koharu, who, after exchanging a less than friendly glance with Kabuto, handed the stack over to the other iryouninja. "The short version is, the limits of your survival abilities will be challenged." She pulled out a small map and unfurled it. "First, I'll give you step-by-step instruction on the terrain of this training field. This 44th training ground is surrounded by 44 locked entrance gates. There are rivers, a forest, and a tower in the middle. It's about 10 kilometers from the tower to the gate. In this confined area, you will go through a certain survival program. The contents of which are..." She rolled the map back up and put it away before pulling two scrolls out of her trench coat instead, "'Anything goes' scroll battle!"

"Scroll...?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes..." Anko began, "The Heaven Scroll and the Earth Scroll. I want you to fight for these two scrolls. Altogether, 28 teams got through the first test. Half of those teams... fourteen will get the Heaven Scroll, the other half will get the Earth Scroll. I'll hand over one scroll to each team. To put it simply, that's what you're vying for."

"And the conditions to pass?" Sasuke asked.

"The three members of your team bring both the Heaven and Earth scrolls to the tower in the center." Anko replied.

"In other words, fourteen of the teams, half of the teams here, will fail for sure..." Sakura surmised.

"Except it has to be in time." Anko added. "For this second exam, the time limit is 120 hours. Do it in exactly five days!"

"Five days?!" Ino exclaimed.

"What do we do about food?!" Chouji cried.

"Be self-sufficient!" Anko said, in a tone that said it should be obvious. "It's a treasure trove in the wilderness. There's more than enough food!"

Koharu placed a hand on her hip and shifted her weight, "She's right about that, but... it's also full of poisonous plants, man-eating animals, and venomous insects, to name just a few hazards. I hope you guys paid closed attention in species identification classes at the Academy."

"No way..." Chouji groaned.

"Idiot! That's why it's called 'survival'!" Ino chided.

"Besides, it's improbable that 42 people, 14 teams, will pass." Hyuuga Neji remarked.

"The interval for activity gets longer with each passing day, while the time for recovery gets shorter... Seems pretty grueling!" His teammate, Rock Lee added with excitement.

"On top of that, you're surrounded by nothing but enemies. Even falling asleep will be a problem." Sasuke said.

_'Speak for yourself...' _Koharu thought before she sighed and then gently pushed Naruto over to his teammates, "Sakura-chan, Sasuke-san, watch over Naruto for me. I doubt he's managed to retain anything that he's ever read in a book."

"Well, and besides those injured during attempts to capture scrolls..." Anko began, "There will definitely be people who are unable to endure the rigors of the course."

"Um... so can you quit during the middle of it?" Shikamaru asked.

"According to the rules, you cannot give up in the middle of it!" Anko told him before smiling cheerfully again. "I want you to spend five days in the forest."

"Just like I thought..." Shikamaru muttered. "What a pain..."

"I don't know why you even bothered asking that, Shikamaru-san." Koharu remarked, "If you're on a mission in the middle of a war zone, you can't just 'give up', turn tail and run. That kind of option doesn't exist in the real world." She turned her head in his direction, "I _know_ you're smart enough to know that." Shikamaru just sighed.

"Well then, moving on, conditions for disqualification." Anko said, "Number 1: If all three members of the team can't make it to the tower with the Heaven and Earth Scrolls within the time limit. Number 2: If a team loses a member or a member becomes incapacitated. There's that, and this is a supplement... Absolutely do not look at the contents of the scrolls until you have reached the tower!"

"W-What happens if we do?" Naruto asked nervously.

"Well if it happens that you do look at it, look... for-ward... to... it...!" Anko said, her voice once again entirely too cheerful.

"Huh?" Naruto said in confusion.

"There are times when a Chuunin must deal with super-secret text." Anko explained, "This is to test your reliability. That's all for the explanation! I'll exchange your three consent forms for the scrolls in that hut over there. After that, pick your entrance, and all of the gates will open simultaneously!" She sighed in exhaustion, "Finally, just a word of advice... don't die!"

_'Um, duh?'_ Koharu thought to herself as the teams dispersed to wait for the hut to be ready.

"This test seems kind of nerve-wracking, huh?" Chino said in concern as Koharu walked back over to her and Fuushin.

"We'll be fine." Koharu said as she tightened the headband that was tied around her ponytail. "A forest like this is no problem for me, and as I recall, the Nakano River is actually pretty shallow in this part of the village, so even that isn't a big problem. Also, Sensei gave me some advice for how to get through this exam before we came here, so passing the test shouldn't be a problem. There's something else however that has me far more concerned."

"What's that?" Fuushin asked, but Koharu shook her head.

"I can't say right now." She told him, "There's too many people around." She suddenly sighed in exasperation, "Please excuse me. I need to go deal with Sakura-chan and Ino-chan."

At that precise moment, Sakura was looking over her consent form when she happened to approach Ino.

"Ohhh? Who do we have here?" Ino sang. "If it isn't Billboard Brow-chan! I thought you went home long ago, I never imagined you were still here."

"Ohhh? Who do we have here? It's the ugly Ino-pig-san!" Sakura mimicked, "Starting now, it's five days of the survival test with Sasuke-kun. There's no reason to go home." At that, a vein popped on Ino's forehead and she and Sakura were instantly in each other's faces. "Ugly!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Billboard!" Ino returned.

"Ugly, Ugly!"

"Billboard, Billboard!"

"Ugly, Ugly, Ugly!"

"Billboard, Billboard, Billboard!"

"Both of you stop that right this instant!" Koharu exclaimed at the top of her lungs while pushing the two girls apart, causing them both to look at her in surprise. The older girl glared at her two friends sternly, "You're both as bad as Naruto, acting like you're still little girls in the Academy! For goodness sake's, you're both kunoichi now, so grow up! This test is going to be extremely dangerous and instead of preparing yourselves for that, you're fighting over a _boy_ of all things! Listen to me, genin or not, some of the people here are extremely dangerous. You guys need to approach this the same way that you would an A-Rank mission—S-Rank even! If you two don't start acting like proper ninja in the next five minutes, I'm going to ask Chino-neechan to use her genjutsu to knock some _sense_ into you two before we even begin!"

"K-Koharu-chan..." Ino managed in shock. She and Sakura both instantly looked ashamed. Koharu sighed and reached into her waist pouch, pulling out three bags and tossing them to Ino.

"Here. Hinata-chan and I prepared these for your team this morning."

Ino quickly caught the bag in her hands and looked at them, seeing the crests of each of her team's clan emblazoned on one of the bags. "What are these?"

"There's a note inside each one to explain." Koharu replied, "Read them when you get to your gate. Sakura-chan, here are the ones for your team." She added while tossing another three bags to Sakura before walking off, leaving a bewildered Ino and Sakura behind. Sighing in exasperation, she walked over to where Sasuke was sitting. "Sasuke-san, I need to talk to you for a minute."

The dark-haired boy looked up at Koharu, "What is it?" He asked.

"You're already on guard, that's good." Koharu said with a nod as she sat down, "Whatever you do, don't let relax that guard for even a second, at least until you're in the tower. I can tell by their chakra that, genin or not, some of the people here are extremely dangerous... In particular, don't try to engage Gaara of the Sand while we're in the forest. I know you want to fight him, but that's a battle that you shouldn't drag Sakura-chan and Naruto into." Sasuke nodded in understanding and she lowered her head a bit, "And also... I probably don't really need to say this, but keep a close eye on Sakura-chan."

"Why?" Sasuke asked. Koharu twisted her head around in Sakura's direction to direct Sasuke's gaze.

"Sakura-chan is... she's different from us. I get the feeling that she's grown up really sheltered, with no reason to ever fear for her own safety while inside the village. A part of me envies her for that, but... at the same time... because she's had such an easy childhood, she's lacking in instincts. She can at least sense bloodlust, but if a large amount of it were directed at her personally, she'd probably freeze like water. Sakura-chan... I don't think that's she's ever truly witnessed death, let alone had reason to fear for her own life."

"What about Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto's much sharper than Sakura-chan in that regard." Koharu told him as she turned back to face him, "Most of the people of the village have hated him since he was born, and because of that, he has a much stronger survival instinct."

"I noticed that when we were growing up, but why?" Sasuke asked, "Why do the other villagers hate him so much? Nobody's ever told me."

Koharu frowned slightly, "...You've heard about the Kyuubi attack on Konoha, right? The one that happened when we were infants?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto... he was born that same night. For that reason, the villagers blamed the attack on him and have always viewed his very existence as a curse that threatens the village." Koharu explained, answering as truthfully as she could without speaking of confidential matters.

Sasuke snorted, "That's ridiculous. He can't help that he happened to be born that night."

"Of course not, but nobody knows who was truly responsible for the attack, so instead, they blame a target that they can actually reach. I mean, you wouldn't throw a shuriken at a target that's completely out of your range, right?"

"I guess that's true." Sasuke replied, "Absurd, but true."

"Naruto can be pretty dense sometimes, but... with the way things were when we were kids, he's actually pretty good at knowing what other people are thinking when they look at him." Koharu stated before chuckling softly, "Unless Hinata-chan is involved. But that's okay. He doesn't understand his own feelings on that matter either." Sasuke raised a brow at this, but Koharu just shook her head, "At any rate, Naruto's had to watch his own back enough that he can manage on his own if he has to. That's why I'm more concerned about Sakura-chan. All of that training using genjutsu was to try and mentally prepare her for this stage of the exam, but in the end, I'm not sure if it worked."

"You knew what the second exam would be?" Sasuke asked with a raised brow.

"My sensei took this exam years ago and told me what he could about it." Koharu answered as she stood back up, "Stay safe in there. See you." With that, she walked back over to her own teammates. At that moment, a proctor opened the curtain in front of the hut for the scroll exchange.

"It's about time for the scroll exchange!" The man announced. Koharu nodded to her teammates and, being as they were the closest to the hut, went in with them first. After Koharu had used the table to sign her form, the three of them handed the papers in, and one of the proctors handed the scroll to Koharu. The blue-haired girl didn't even glance at it as she shoved it into her waist pouch.

After a while, Anko looked at her watch and then announced, "Teams who have taken their scroll, stay with the representative and move to the gate! We'll all start simultaneously in 30 minutes!"

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"Chino-neechan, try to get sense out any underground water sources that we can make use of." Koharu said when they had been led to Gate 1. Chino nodded and knelt on the ground. Koharu sensed something and turned around to welcome one of her falcons. The bird landed on her forearm and she removed the scroll from its pouch before opening it and scanning its contents.

"What is that?" Chino asked. To her and Fuushin, the scroll appeared to be completely blank.

"A reply from Sensei regarding my earlier message." Koharu told her.

"Already?!" Chino exclaimed.

"Falcons are among the fastest of birds, especially when diving. That's why I use them to send messages. And out of all of the summoning falcons, Hayamaru-chan here is the fastest." Koharu explained before turning her face toward the bird on her shoulder. "Good work." The falcon gave a small cry of reply before vanishing in a puff of smoke. "All right, change of plans." She said as she turned back around, "Our first priority when we enter the forest is to locate Team 7!"

"Can you scan the area from here to locate them?" Fuushin asked.

Koharu smirked, "Who do you think you're talking to?" She carefully infused more chakra than normal in order to expand her range and managed to locate Team 7. "Looks like they're at our nine o'clock, at Gate 12. That puts them roughly 15.4km away from us." She frowned as she noticed something, "Tch, but the enemy is at Gate 15, meaning they're 11.2km closer than we are!"

"Do you think we can beat them?" Chino asked.

"Not unless Team 7 heads directly toward us, no." Koharu remarked, her frown deepening as she took note of something else, "Yakushi Kabuto's team is at Gate 38, which means they're closer to us than Team 7 is. There's only about 8.4 km between us. These distances are really not to our advantage. On top of that, from the looks of things, that team from the Hidden Sand is at Gate 6, putting them halfway between us and Team 7. It's frustrating, but if necessary, we'll go out of our way to avoid them. We can't afford to be targeted by Gaara of the Sand." _'To be honest, I kind of wish that Sensei were here, because I really don't want to have to deal with a psychotic Jinchuuriki.'_ She thought with a sigh, _'But this wouldn't be a test of our abilities if we could hide behind him.' _

"Is there any good news?" Chino asked reluctantly.

"The team of Neji Hyuuga is between us and Kabuto's team, but... there's a pretty good chance that they'll avoid confrontation at the beginning." Koharu replied, "And Neji's sensory abilities are similar to mine, so it's unlikely that they'll be taken by surprise."

"Koharu, let me carry you on my back when we go in, so that you can focus on keeping track of Team 7." Fuushin said.

"Right." Koharu said with a nod, reaching into her pouch and pulling out a food pill before shoving it into her mouth. Fuushin sweat-dropped.

"Didn't you just eat ten bowls of ramen before we came here?" He asked.

"Expanding the range of my Shinjitsugan takes quite a lot of chakra, not to mention that I used a little bit earlier when I tended to Naruto's scratch from Anko-sensei. I can't afford to let my reserves be any less than full when we start." She explained. The proctor in front of them turned to unlock the gate and Fuushin lifted his youngest teammate onto his back.

"We now start the second test of the Chuunin Exam!" Anko announced at precisely two-thirty pm.

Chino and Fuushin dashed through the gate the moment it opened, heading in the general direction of Team 7. Koharu sweat-dropped as she observed her brother and his teammates, "What the heck are they doing?! Why are they moving at such a leisurely pace?! This is a war zone, not a public park!"

"Never mind that!" Chino said, "Make sure to tell us if we need to alter our course!"

"We should be okay." Koharu answered her. "As long as we continue on this current path. Those guys from the Sand are making their way straight in, so we shouldn't run into them. I'm more concerned about Kabuto's Team."

"Are they tracking us?" Fuushin asked.

"...Possibly." Koharu replied, "I don't think Kabuto is a sensory type, but then again, there's no telling what sorts of things he's learned from Orochimaru."

"What should we do?" Chino asked.

"I don't think it can be helped. We'll have to engage them first. We can end things more quickly that way." Koharu said.

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A while later, Koharu stood in a small clearing by herself as Kabuto and his team approached her.

"Oh? If it isn't Koharu-chan." Kabuto remarked as he pushed up his glasses. "Where are your teammates? Surely they didn't get scared and abandon you."

"Yakushi Kabuto." Koharu began, "You know my position well enough to know who it was that molded me into a shinobi. You should also be aware that my superiors would not be so careless as give me teammates who aren't capable of keeping up with me or would be unnerved by my abilities. In the five years since I left Konoha, this is the first time I've been allowed to actively partake in combat, as well as the first mission I've been entrusted to carry out on my own. You should realize that I'm much stronger than the last time we met."

"Oh?" Kabuto replied with interest, "I wonder about that."

"However, I'm not going to be your opponent today."

Suddenly the ground beneath Kabuto's team turned to swamp-like mud, causing them to sink in. As Kabuto held up the scroll to protect it, Koharu snatched it with a shuriken and wire.

"I knew if it were in danger of getting damaged, whoever had the scroll would hold it aloft." She remarked calmly. "Fuushin-niichan!"

Suddenly Fuushin jumped into the air, with three Amegakure umbrellas in his hands, which he charged with chakra before launching them. "Taiton: Jouro Senbon!" Thousands of chakra-infused senbon were launched from the umbrellas and rained down on Kabuto and his teammates. The umbrellas returned to Fuushin's hand when the jutsu finished and the three Kekkei Genkai wielders took off again.

"As soon as soon as we're a safe distance away, we'll put the umbrellas back in storage and I'll go back to carrying you, Koharu." Fuushin said.

"All right." Koharu said with a nod, "But we need to be quick. No telling how long we have before Kabuto figures out that that swamp mud is nothing more than an illusion."

"Don't worry!" Chino said cheerfully, "My genjutsu isn't that easy to get out of!"

Koharu nodded to her, "Let's go!"

* * *

So, yeah, decided to break this part into smaller parts, because otherwise, it was going to be like, 15,000 words long. ;


	14. Chuunin Exam: The Predator and the Prey

"Wh-what was that?" Chino asked nervously when they heard screams of terror arising from elsewhere in the forest.

"Hinata-chan's team has caught some of the other Amegakure shinobi in a trap." Koharu replied.

"Should we go help them?" Chino asked.

Koharu sighed. "I suppose we should. They're our comrades after all. Let's go. They won't last for more than five minutes if we don't rescue them. Head west by 10 degrees."

Chino and Fuushin nodded and quickly changed course, arriving at the sight where Team 8 had previously been, with Fuushin setting Koharu down and taking out a chakra knife as he and Chino dashed forward.

"Get those leeches off of them quickly." Koharu ordered. "They've got 60 seconds at best." Chino and Fuushin nodded and quickly removed the giant leeches covering their comrades. Koharu whipped out a scroll and retrieved three syringes that were stored within, quickly injecting the contents into all three shinobi. "Chino-neechan, do what you can to manipulate their blood and force their bodies to replenish it faster." Chino nodded, kneeling in front of the three shinobi and activating her Ketsuryuugan to do as Koharu said.

"Thanks." One of them said as they slowly regained a certain degree of awareness. "You saved us."

"And you've cost us time by failing to consider your environment. You should've done research on the local flora and fauna of Konoha." Koharu said as she summoned something else from a scroll and tossed a small bag down to them. "Here. To speed your recovery from the blood loss. Take one each." She shoved one of her food pills into her mouth as she infused her chakra again and frowned, "Shoot! The members of Team 7 have been split up! We need to go!"

Chino and Fuushin nodded and Fuushin quickly picked up Koharu before the two of them darted in the direction she had been looking.

"You said that they were split up?" Fuushin asked with concern, "Who should we make our way to first?"

"Naruto is in the most imminent danger, but Sasuke and Sakura are being approached by Orochimaru!" Koharu replied, "Fuushin-niichan, put me down. We have no choice but to split up."

"Huh? But..." Chino began with concern.

"There's no other option and it's not like I'm the only sensory type here!" Koharu insisted, "The two of you make your way to Sasuke-san and Sakura-chan and remember the strategy we discussed! I'm going to help Naruto!"

"R-Right..." Chino said as she and Fuushin stopped on a tree, Fuushin setting Koharu down so that she could set out on her own path before hurrying away with Chino.

Koharu frowned in determination as she worked to track down Naruto and the giant snake that had swallowed him whilst hoping that Chino and Fuushin reached the others in time. She could no longer see Sasuke and Sakura as she was gradually decreasing the level of chakra that she infused as she drew closer to Naruto, in order to avoid wasting any. Just as she arrived at her brother's location, she saw the snake expanding exponentially and just managed to duck behind the trunk of a tree to avoid getting covered in literal snake guts as her brother unexpectedly burst out from inside by using multiple Shadow Clones. She sighed in relief, but before she could call out to him, Naruto dispersed the clones and took off. "Ah!" The thirteen-year-old girl quickly followed her brother, wondering how exactly it was that he was already heading in the precise direction that he needed to. _'He's instinctively using his sensory abilities to find his teammates!' _She thought with a smirk, _'He probably doesn't even realize he's doing it! As expected of my little brother. He's a prodigy in his own way.' _She frowned in frustration as she suddenly realized that Naruto was leaving her in the dust. _'Well,' _She thought to herself, _'He always __**was **__pretty agile...' _Before long, Naruto had managed to get outside of Koharu's normal range. She tried to infuse chakra to follow him, but quickly realized that she didn't have enough. She landed on a tree branch, breathing heavily. _'I have no choice. I have to rest. Even with the food pills, it will take some time before I have enough chakra to follow him. If I push myself too far, I'll pass out.' _She sat back against the trunk and gazed in the direction that her brother had gone. _'Naruto, please stay safe.'_

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Koharu hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep until she suddenly awoke with a start, her head snapping in the direction that Naruto had gone in. _'The Kyuubi's chakra... it's leaking out!' _She thought in horror as she stood up. Regardless of how far away she was, she didn't need to expand her range to sense _that_. Without a second thought, the teenaged girl leapt from the branch and headed in the direction of her brother, only stopping when she abruptly felt the Kyuubi's chakra vanish. Frowning in concern, she infused chakra again to locate Naruto, her eyes widening as she realized that he was in Orochimaru's grasp. She quickly stopped molding her chakra and took off again, rushing desperately to save her brother.

She finally reached the location of Team 7 just as Orochimaru sank his fangs into Sasuke's neck. She quickly pressed against the trunk of a tree and suppressed her chakra to avoid being seen. _'I was too late!' _She felt her jaw tighten as her hands clenched with determination, _'But even if I couldn't stop Orochimaru, I can still ruin his plans!'_ After Orochimaru had taken his leave, Koharu immediately rushed over to Sasuke and Sakura. The Uchiha boy was clutching his neck and screaming in pain.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed in terror.

Koharu whipped out one of her scrolls and summoned the item that she desired, a bamboo drinking container appearing in her hand. She pulled out the stopper and shoved the container to Sasuke's mouth, "Sasuke-san, drink this! Drink all of it!" She commanded firmly.

Hearing the urgency in her voice, Sasuke managed to obey, downing the contents of the container before passing out in Sakura's arms.

"What was that just now?" Sakura questioned.

"A very powerful sedative." Koharu replied, "All we can do right now is try to make him comfortable. Leave him with me and go get Naruto before his jacket tears."

Sakura nodded and did as the other girl said.

"Koharu-chan!" Chino called as she suddenly arrived with Fuushin.

"Koharu!" Fuushin called with concern.

"There you guys are!" Koharu said in annoyance, "Where were you?! You're beyond late!"

"I'm sorry, Koharu-chan." Chino apologized, "We got held up by his associates."

Koharu sighed in frustration. "Nothing to be done about it now. Let's find some shelter so I can begin treating these two."

病

After they had all moved beneath the roots of a large tree and used Sasuke and Naruto's waist pouches to support their heads, Sakura could only watch helplessly as Koharu began summoning the necessary supplies for treatment.

"Um... is there anything that I can do?" She asked anxiously.

"Actually, there is." Koharu replied. "Whenever I drop fluid into a basin, I need you to swap it out with an empty one."

"Oh, okay." Sakura said with a nod as she approached the other girl. She watched as Koharu formed a chakra scalpel and carefully made an incision at Sasuke's ribs.

"This is called the Cellular Extraction Healing Technique." Koharu explained to her, "It's used to extract poisons or toxins from the body. That sedative I gave to Sasuke-san is indeed very strong, but it also has very dangerous side effects, so I'm going to extract the toxins from his blood and lungs. On the positive side, this procedure normally requires the patient to be restrained, but with that sedative, he won't feel a thing." She held her hand over the basin and Sakura watched as the fluid inside adhered to her hand in a single globule, which Koharu then held over Sasuke. "I use my chakra to force this fluid into his body and then draw it back out with my other hand. It draws in the toxins and pulls them out with it. As an added bonus, it heals the damage as well. In the case of poison, you would still need an antidote, as not _everything_ gets drawn out by this, but in this case, it does the job for keeping the side effects of the sedative to a minimum." She dropped the now tainted globule into the empty basin. "Next."

"Oh, right." Sakura said as she replaced the dirty basin with a clean one. "Um, how do you know so much about this? Do you use that sedative on people a lot?"

"Yes and no." Koharu replied as she made another incision on the other side of Sasuke's ribs. "My mentor has a chronic illness. That sedative is involved in his treatment. So I have to use this jutsu to prevent side effects."

"I see... You're really amazing, Koharu-chan. You already know so much about medicine and iryouninjutsu even though you're only a little older than me." Sakura remarked as she swapped out the basins again.

"I think you might have a talent for this too, Sakura-chan." Koharu told her as she made a third incision near Sasuke's heart. "You have a keen mind and your chakra control is incredibly precise. This might surprise you, but, most iryouninja can't perform these kinds of techniques."

"Eh? Really?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Yes." Koharu replied as she began pushing the fluid through, "iryouninjutsu requires very delicate chakra control, so only a handful of people can use it. Those with the ability to do so don't necessarily have the brains to work in medicine. A combination of intelligence and chakra control like yours is rare. I once met Lady Tsunade, the most renowned iryouninja in the world. Your chakra reminds me a little of hers."

Sakura smiled shyly and looked down, "Thanks for the compliment. If I became a iryouninja like you, I could be more useful to my team." She looked up at the other girl, "Could you teach me?"

"The Mystic Palm technique is an A-Rank Jutsu." Koharu replied matter-of-factly as she released the last of the fluid. "I don't know if I have the skill to teach it to somebody else."

"Oh."

"All right, now all that's left is to close these incisions."

"Um, what exactly did Orochimaru do to Sasuke-kun? Who is he anyway?" Sakura asked.

"I don't want to keep repeating myself, so I'll answer your second question later." Koharu replied, "All you need to know for right now is that he's a very dangerous enemy of the Hidden Leaf. As for what he did to Sasuke-san, it's a kinjutsu. If it were anyone else, they would probably die, but considering Sasuke-san's lineage, he should be okay with a bit of time."

"His lineage?" Sakura asked.

"The kinjutsu in question has a certain relation to sage jutsu, which only descendants of the Sage of Six Paths can use. Fortunately, nearly all of those with Kekkei Genkai are descendants of the Sage, and that includes the Uchiha."

"Ehh... So then, Koharu-chan, you're a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths too?" Sakura asked.

"On the Uzumaki side of my clan's origins, yes." Koharu answered, "The Hyūga are amongst the few, if not the only, clan to have not descended from the Sage and yet still possess a Kekkei Genkai. This is because they descended from the Sage's brother. At any rate, I have a way to undo Orochimaru's handiwork, but it's too dangerous to perform while Sasuke-san is in this condition."

"Okay." Sakura said before shifting her gaze, "What about Naruto?"

"Naruto's flow of chakra is... well... off." Koharu answered, "But I should be able to fix that." She carefully lifted Naruto's clothing to reveal the seal on his abdomen.

"What is that?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"It's a seal placed upon Naruto by his father." Koharu answered as she studied the seal in her own way.

"A seal?" Sakura questioned, "For what?"

"I can't answer that." Koharu replied, "It's a village secret that I know only because I'm his sister." She studied the seal for a moment longer before continuing, "Orochimaru placed a second seal on top of it to disrupt his chakra flow. That's why he's unconscious."

"Can you remove it?" Sakura asked.

"The fuinjutsu that he used is one that could normally only be undone by the Third Hokage or one of his other students." Koharu explained before grinning, "But fortunately, I'm an expert in fuinjutsu who knows far more than even most specialists." She held up her hand, allowing five flames of chakra to appear on her fingertips before pressing them to Naruto's abdomen to remove the second seal. Naruto jolted slightly at this, but otherwise remained unresponsive. "There. Now all that's left is to reinforce his normal seal."

"What do you mean by 'reinforce'?" Sakura asked.

"The reason why my father and I became Naruto's surrogate family wasn't just because of our distant relation to him." Koharu explained, "It was also because my father was the only one capable of reinforcing the seal if it should start to come undone. He taught the jutsu for that to me before he died. Naruto isn't supposed to go crazy like he did earlier. That happened because the seal has weakened a little, but since I'm here, I can fix that." She held her hands over her brother's abdomen, concentrating her chakra as she fixed his seal and then sighed. "Now then... Sakura-chan, please set up a trap or two. If the enemy finds us, I expect you to protect these two with everything you've got. The three of us will step in if things get too rough, but not until I know that you've done all you can."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Another purpose of these exams is to foster the growth of young shinobi." Koharu explained with a yawn, "It defeats the purpose if we bail you out from the get-go. At any rate, I'm going to get some sleep, but don't feel like you have to stay up all night. If anyone approaches or if something happens to Sasuke-san and Naruto, I'll know in an instant, even if I'm asleep."

"Okay..." Sakura said with uncertainty.

病

"Sakura-chan... Sakura-chan..." Koharu said quietly as she shook Sakura's shoulder. The pink-haired girl woke up with a gasp and sat up, her eyes wide, and Koharu quickly covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming. "It's all right. You were just having a nightmare. An encounter with Orochimaru will do that. At any rate, enemies are approaching. My teammates and I are going to conceal ourselves. Be on your guard."

"Oh, all right." Sakura said with a nod. A few minutes after Koharu, Chino, and Fuushin had hidden themselves, Sakura heard something rustling in the bushes and gasped in fear as she pulled out a kunai, trembling in fright and looking over her shoulder, only to find a squirrel chewing on a seed. She stared at the creature, annoyed at having been startled by something so small and harmless. The squirrel chittered as it ran toward her. "Don't surprise me like that!" She chided before she gasped and quickly threw the kunai in its path to startle it away before breathing a sigh of relief.

Koharu watched this and kept her senses trained upon the three Sound Shinobi hiding nearby, realizing by their chakra that they'd been trying to use the squirrel to attack Sakura and her team, but Sakura had unwittingly foiled their plan by scaring it away. She focused on Sasuke for a moment, whose body was trembling and it sounded as he were struggling to breathe and frowned. _'The sedative has warn off... but there's nothing more that I can do for him at this point. I think he'll come to within the next hour though.'_

Having not slept well the night before, Sakura was struggling to keep her eyes open. Koharu wanted to tell her to turn around and watch the forest instead of the boys, but she knew that the hearing of the Sound Shinobi was too sharp to risk that.

At that moment, the leader of the Sound team chuckled, "A no-sleep lookout?" He asked Sakura. Sakura gasped and turned to look over her shoulder at the three of them. "But that's not necessary anymore." He added. "Wake Sasuke-kun up. We want to battle him."

Koharu sweat-dropped in annoyance. Wasn't it obvious that Sasuke and Naruto were both out cold and that's why Sakura was keeping watch despite her drowsiness? Just how cruelly did these guys think the boys treated their only female teammate? If they did treat Sakura like that, Koharu would have pulverized them both before the exams even began.

Sakura glared at them, trembling as she reached for her holster before suddenly straightening up, "What are you saying?! What the heck are you after?! I know the one called Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows!" She exclaimed. The three enemies were shocked by this statement, but Sakura continued, "What's that strange bruise on the back of Sasuke-kun's neck? You guys did this to Sasuke-kun. How can you say that you want to fight him?!"

"I wonder... what he has on his mind?" The leader muttered, almost to himself.

"However, I can't stay quiet after hearing that." His male teammate remarked, "I will kill this girl, and I'll also kill this Sasuke character." He said to his teammates.

Koharu narrowed her eyes. She fully intended to let Sakura make her own stand first, but she still had no intentions of letting any of them die.

"Wait, Zaku." The leader said to the other man.

"Huh? What is it?" Zaku asked in annoyance.

The leader stepped forward carefully and knelt down. "It's so cliché." He began. "It's the color of dirt that has just been dug up. This grass... it doesn't grow in a place like this, does it?" Sakura narrowed her eyes in frustration. "You know, with a trap..." The leader continued, "There's no point unless you make it so it's not discovered." At this, he lifted the grass that Sakura had laid over a pitfall, the one she'd been protecting the squirrel from a few minutes earlier.

"Huh, how ridiculous!" Zaku remarked. "So that kunai was so the squirrel wouldn't be caught in the trap?"

Zaku's teammate tilted his head in a creepy manner, "We kill her now!"

All three of them jumped toward Sakura, but Sakura merely smirked as she took out her kunai and casually cut the wire tied to a kunai behind her, causing a log to come swinging toward them.

"A log?!" Zaku cried in alarm.

_'A double feint.' _Koharu thought to herself, _'That's a clever move. No wonder Sasuke-san told me that she's the best trap setter on their team. Those three were idiots for failing to observe that there was a kunai in the ground right beside her.'_

"A trap above too?" The leader asked, "Watch out!" As the log came barreling toward them, he caught it with his hand, "Just kidding." He formed a sign with his other hand and blasted the log to pieces, causing Sakura to gasp in horror. "Clearly you have no talent." He told her, "Someone like you needs to make more of an effort, or else!"

Koharu narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists where she was hiding, forcing herself to remember that Sakura was fighting alone at first for the sake of her own growth. _'Sakura has plenty of talent...' _She thought to herself, _'But talent is useless if you don't develop it, and that's been her mistake ever since she graduated!'_

"Konoha Senpuu!" Came a boy's voice, and suddenly, all three Sound Ninja were on the ground as somebody landed in front of Sakura, causing her to gasp in surprise before she realized who it was that had come to her defense.

"This guy..."

"Then you also should... make an effort, shouldn't you?" The boy chided to the three enemies.

"Who are you?!" The leader demanded.

"I'm the beautiful blue beast of the Leaf Village, Rock Lee!"

"Where did you come from?" Sakura asked in astonishment.

"I came... because you needed me, and I always will!" Lee told her before lifting the squirrel from earlier from his shoulder and setting it down. "Actually, it's thanks to my little friend here." He admitted, "Go on now." He bade the squirrel, lest it get hurt.

Sakura wiped a tear away as she glanced at her teammates and then turned back to Lee. "I don't know how to thank you. You're a lifesaver!"

"I promised when we met..." Lee reminded her.

"Huh?" Sakura said in confusion.

"...To protect you until death do us part!" He exclaimed.

_'Uh... she's not your wife, Lee-san, and probably never will be. She's kind of spoken for...' _Koharu thought to herself.

At this, the leader of the Sound Shinobi took out his team's scroll. "It can't be helped..." He muttered, before tossing the scroll over his shoulder to Zaku. "Zaku... Sasuke-kun is all yours. They're as good as dead." Having said this, the leader darted forward. Sakura threw a kunai at him which he dodged with ease, but then Lee shoved his hand into the ground and pulled up a tree root to shield himself.

"There is a trick to your attack, isn't there?" He asked his opponent, "I won't simply avoid it. I've seen your jutsu before!"

Koharu frowned. He was obviously referring to when she had fought Zaku and this other ninja right before the first exam. Just as she had done, he had shielded himself rather than dodging. However, he was a bit off about the nature of the attack itself. She herself could see it, in a sense, but Lee could not. A ninja without the ability to perform ninjutsu or genjutsu... was no match for these ninja from the Hidden Sound!

Her focus shifted slightly to where Team 10 was loitering nearby, and she wondered just how clueless the three of them were to be making zero effort to conceal their presence. It was lucky for them that this team from Otogakure was only interested in Sasuke and anyone who tried to protect him.

She returned her attention to Lee, who appeared to be either wrapping or unwrapping something around his arms, she wasn't able to tell which. A moment later, he moved with such speed that only she would be capable of tracking him. She covered her mouth to prevent herself from gasping.

_'Omote Renge? But that's such a dangerous jutsu! Although it enabled him to defeat four of the seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Might Dai lost his life when he used it!' _She frowned in consternation, _'Lee-san doesn't appear to be capable of releasing the jutsu to its fullest, but... I suppose he thinks this is his only hope. The problem is, it won't work on these guys!'_

In the time it had taken for these thoughts to pass through her mind, Lee had appeared directly in front of the leader of the Hidden Sound Team and delivered a swift kick from below to his chin, knocking him into the air. The dark-haired boy followed this up by launching himself into the air with only one hand so that he was now behind his opponent. "This is only the beginning!" He said before using the strips of cloth that he kept wrapped around his forearms to bind his opponent and grab him in a bearhug from behind. He flipped the both of them upside down and moved to slam his opponent's head into the ground.

"Not good!" Zaku said as he watched, "There's no way he can break his fall!"

"Take this!" Lee screamed as he spun himself and his opponent at high speed, "Omote Renge!"

Zaku grunted and shoved his hands into the ground. Koharu frowned with concern. Lee had released the other shinobi at the last moment to escape the impact of his own jutsu, but from what she could see, it didn't make any difference, which Lee seemed to realize.

"Heh. Well, well..." Zaku began. "I somehow made it in time." His comrade grunted and managed to pull his head out of the pile of dirt beneath him, quickly righting himself and shaking his head.

"I-Impossible!" Lee gasped.

"That is a frightening jutsu..." The leader said. "It did this much even though I fell on the spongy dirt." Lee stood up, breathing heavily. His opponent stood back up and pulled back his sleeve. "Next, it's my turn." He warned. He dashed at Lee, and the teenager stepped back to dodge, but instantly felt that he'd been affected either way.

"Lee-san!" Sakura cried in concern.

Lee's breathing grew more strained as he struggled to stay standing. When his opponent spoke, he could just barely make out what he was saying.

"Your jutsu is indeed fast." The leader began, "But our jutsu exceeds that and is as fast as sound!" Lee grunted, still panting heavily as he dropped to his knees. "I'll show you that there are walls which effort alone can never break through."

_'He's talking about the sound barrier...' _Koharu thought, _'In which case, he's right. The human body is incapable of surpassing the speed of sound. At least without the use of some kind of ninjutsu like the Fourth's Hiraishin.'_

Lee's eyes widened and he vomited. Koharu could tell that the poor boy was overcome by vertigo.

"Lee-san!" Sakura exclaimed fearfully.

Suddenly Lee's eyes widened again and blood began to drip slowly out of his left ear. He reached up and clutched at the sensory organ. At that point, Chino moved to go help him, but Koharu signaled her to stop. When Chino looked at Koharu, the younger girl read the confusion in her friend's chakra and gave her a look that said, "not yet".

"There's a little gimmick I have." The leader of the Sound Ninja said as he raised his arm before resting it in his other hand, and Koharu realized that he must've had some kind of enhancement device attached to it. "Evading won't work... on my attacks." He chuckled. "It's sound." He explained. "Even though you evaded my fist, sound assaulted you." Sakura gasped in realization as he said this. "Do you know what sound is all about in the first place?" The shinobi asked.

"Vibration?" Sakura replied uncertainly.

"Correct." He told her. "In other words, hearing sound means... that the eardrum is catching vibrating air. And the human eardrum breaks with sounds over 150Mhz. Also, by assaulting the semicircular canal, which is located even deeper, I can make you totally lose balance." Lee's eyes widened in realization and his opponent chuckled. "You won't be able to move your body freely for some time."

"Something old and tired like taijutsu won't work on us." Zaku added. "Well, you were doing good up to a certain point, but I brought forth my jutsu. It's just not going to work anymore." He pulled his hands out of the ground and held them in front of him. "I freely manipulate ultrasonic waves and air pressure, and have the power to obliterate even boulders!" He explained, "I can send air into the ground and change the dirt into a cushion as I please. It's different from your silly jutsu."

"Okay then..." The leader began, "Next is... you!" He yelled while charging at Sakura, and Lee gasped in concern.

Sakura narrowed her eyes and wove two signs before clasping her hands together. "Suiton! Suirou no jutsu!" Instantly an orb of water shot up around her, causing the leader's eyes to widen. A moment later, Lee, having not seen that Sakura was prepared to protect herself, leapt in front of her.

"Konoha senpuu!" He cried, attempting to kick the enemy shinobi, but ultimately missing due to the injury to his ear.

"It looks like my earlier attack is having an effect!" The leader exclaimed as he jumped back before leaping toward Lee again, "To be honest, I'm a bit surprised, but... there's not even a trace of that flash of combo taijutsu you showed!" To his surprise, as Lee put up an arm to shield himself, an orb of water suddenly appeared around him. "What?!" He looked past Lee to see that Sakura had released the jutsu from around herself and erected it around Lee instead. Sakura smirked at him slightly.

"Certainly, sound does exist as vibrations in the air. However, those vibrations are slowed when forced to travel through water. That's why Koharu used this jutsu to shield herself from your attack right before the written test. She saw right through you even without knowing what kind of jutsu you use!" The preteen girl exclaimed. "Lee-san! Just hold your breath for a little while longer!" Having activated the jutsu with her left hand, Sakura pulled two shuriken out with her right and launched them at Zaku, but the Sound Ninja countered by blowing them back at her with his jutsu. Sakura shielded herself with her right arm, managing to maintain the jutsu with her left. However, at that moment, the kunoichi of the group suddenly appeared behind Sakura and grabbed the younger girl by her hair, pulling it tightly and forcing her to the ground. Sakura cried out, finally losing her ability to maintain the orb of water and releasing it, allowing the leader to instantly knock Lee unconscious.

"Your hair's shinier than mine." The kunoichi said to Sakura, "Hey! If you have time to worry about your hair, you should train more! Getting all spiced up like a woman... Zaku... why don't you finish off that Sasuke guy... right in front of this charming bug?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice!" Zaku replied.

"Hey, hey..." Their leader said in slight irritation.

Koharu frowned, quietly reaching into her holster and taking out two shuriken. _'I'm afraid that kunoichi is right... Even though it's hard to be concerned by my appearance when I can't see, Okaasan still taught me that vanity can be a kunoichi's undoing.'_ Her eyes narrowed slightly with concern, _'__Is__ that really all you've got, Sakura-chan? Are you going to just give up now? I'll jump in and save Sasuke-san at the last second if I have to, but... will you be satisfied with letting somebody else protect your comrade while you're held hostage because of your hair?'_

"Don't move!" The kunoichi exclaimed, yanking on Sakura's hair when young girl tried to lean forward.

Koharu watched Sakura carefully, not missing a single thing... the fact that Sakura's right hand was clawing at the dirt beneath it, the fact that she was trembling with frustration. She heard Sakura stifle a sob as she sat there, likely berating herself. She clenched a fist, clasping a handful of dirt as Koharu felt the younger kunoichi's chakra surge with resolve.

"Well then..." Zaku said as he stepped forward, "Let's do this!"

Koharu shifted her attention slightly as she felt chakra beginning to seep from Sasuke. _'It looks he's almost finished adapting to the curse mark... He won't be unconscious for much longer.'_

As Zaku approached her teammates, Sakura withdrew a kunai from her holster whilst strengthening her resolve.

"That's pointless!" The kunoichi holding her hostage said while Sakura held the kunai straight out in front of herself, "That won't work on me!"

Sakura turned toward the older ninja slightly as she lifted the kunai, "What are you saying?"

"Huh?" The kunoichi looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened, "What?!" To her surprise, Sakura reached back behind her head and whacked off her hair where the other girl was holding it. The Sound Ninja was so thrown off by the loss of tension that she lost her balance.

Koharu observed Sakura carefully, taking in everything that her friend was feeling in that moment. Remembrance... regret... resolve. She smirked to herself. _'Sakura-chan has finally blossomed.'_ She shifted her attention to the trio hiding in the bushes. _'Now then... what will you do... Ino-chan?'_

Zaku gritted his teeth in frustration. "Kin! Kill her!" He exclaimed. His kunoichi comrade responded by pulling four senbon out of her waist pouch and attempting to stab Sakura with them, but the younger girl had seen it coming and had substituted herself with a log.

"Kawarimi no jutsu!" Kin exclaimed in surprise. However, Zaku had seen it coming and quickly prepared himself as Sakura dashed toward him from his right side, four kunai in each hand.

"Kin! Get out of the way!" He warned. Kin jumped back as Sakura threw the kunai at him, although he instantly saw that Sakura intended to substitute herself again as he released his jutsu. He looked up, quickly spotting Sakura as she wove a few signs again. "I've said it two or three times that that won't work!" He reaches into his waist pouch and pulled out four kunai. "This is enough... for you!" He launched the knives and Sakura curled up to shield face from them, instead being struck in the arms and legs. Zaku chuckled and looked away, "Where next?" Suddenly he felt blood land on his cheek, and in that moment, he realized that Sakura hadn't substituted herself this time. Instead, she dove at him whilst wielding one of the kunai that he had thrown. "Wh-What?!" He put his arm up to shield himself and Sakura drove the kunai into his forearm before biting down on his opposite wrist to hold that arm down too. Despite the fact that she was still holding the kunai in his forearm, Zaku began beating Sakura's head with his fist in desperation. "Let go!"

Chino and Fuushin both prepared to move this time, but Koharu once again signaled them to stop. At the confusion in their chakra, she directed their gaze to where Team 10 was hiding in the bushes, and they understood. Sakura wasn't the only one that Koharu wanted to give the chance to grow.

"Let go, darn it!" Zaku yelled as he continued to pound Sakura with his fist.

Ino's heart was breaking at the sight of Sakura allowing herself to be beaten senseless for the sake of protecting her comrades. She'd even cut off the hair she'd been so obsessed with for their sake. Suddenly, Sakura was no longer able to keep her hold on Zaku and was sent tumbling away, and in that moment, Ino could no longer stand by and watch. As the injured girl struggled to get up, Ino and Shikamaru rushed out in front of her to protect her, Shikamaru dragging Chouji along by his scarf.

"Ino...?" Sakura said in confusion.

"Sakura, I told you, didn't I?" Ino began, "I won't lose to you!"

Koharu smirked in satisfaction before signaling her teammates, and in an instant, the three Ame Shinobi appeared in front of Team 10.

"Well said, Ino-chan. However, the reality is that the Ino-Shika-Chou formation is ill-suited for battling these Sound Shinobi. Therefore, leave them to us while the three of you look after Sakura and the others." The blue-haired girl said as she removed two shuriken from her holster.

"S-Sure..." Ino said, too astonished to think of anything else to say.

"Chino-neechan, you deal with Kin! Fuushin-niichan, Zaku is all yours! I'll deal with Dosu." She said, facing the leader of the Sound Shinobi as Chino and Fuushin spread out to face their respective opponents.

"Oh? I don't believe I've ever told you my name." Dosu said with interest.

"You didn't, but my team and I have studied the public information that was released on every applicant." Koharu said as she reached behind her for something, "Of course, considering you take orders from Orochimaru, there's no telling how much of that is accurate in your case."

"Why is a team from the Hidden Rain concerning themselves with those from the Leaf?" Dosu asked.

"First, because Naruto is my little brother, a fact which I'm fairly certain Orochimaru is aware of." Koharu said while reaching back with her other hand, "And second, Orochimaru is connected to my father's death. Anything I can do to cause him trouble is a means to avenge my father." She abruptly bent backwards and launched the eight tagged kunai she was holding, four of them striking the ground in front of where Team 10 had gathered with Sakura and Lee and the other four striking the tree roots above them. A purplish barrier formed around the group. "Everyone, stay inside of that barrier for now! This is going to get rough!" She said to her friends.

"I already know your tactics. Do you really think you can beat me with just Suiton?" Dozu asked.

"I know yours as well, and I have an edge that Lee-san does not." Koharu replied calmly, "Sound waves are invisible to ordinary people..." She smirked, "But _I'm _not ordinary. I can see your attacks via the chakra you use to direct them, and I can even foretell your movements by the shifts in your chakra flow. Winding up with us as your opponents was very unfortunate for you. Zaku's little gimmick can't hope to compete with Fuushin-niichan's Taiton, and I doubt there's anyone in this exam whose genjutsu can hold a candle to Chino-neechan's. The three of us... are the secret strength of the Hidden Rain!"

The members of Team 10 and Sakura weren't entirely sure what happened in the next moment, although they were quickly thankful for Koharu's barrier, as the clash of Zaku's air pressure attacks against Fuushin's Typhoon Style threatened to tear apart an entire acre of the forest. Amidst all of that, none of them could even _see_ what Koharu and Dosu were doing, although one of them managed to notice that Kin had passed out less than five seconds after the battle began. In the midst of all the chaos, Koharu suddenly called out to Fuushin. A moment later, the wind died down, and Koharu's team reappeared in front of the barrier, which she disabled.

"Ino-chan, Shikamaru-san, Chouji-san, you might wanna move back a bit." The blue-haired girl warned. The three genin looked confused, but nonetheless obeyed. A torrent of purple chakra suddenly burst out from Sasuke, and a moment later, the Uchiha boy was standing up, his Sharingan activated and the chakra swirling around him.

"Sakura... the guy who did this to you. Who is it?" Sasuke half-asked, half-demanded. It was obvious that he was enraged at the sight of Sakura beaten and bruised, her long hair now haphazardly lopped off.

"Sasuke-kun, that body...?" Sakura began, her voice filled with concern.

Sasuke looked down at his hand, "No need to worry. On the contrary, power is rapidly flowing in... I feel fine now. That guy gave this to me. At last I understand... I'm an avenger. On my road, I must put power into my hands... even it means abandoning myself to darkness." He glared at the Sound Shinobi, "Sakura, say it! Who was it that hurt you?!" Anyone with a brain could've seen that the boy was infuriated by Sakura's current state.

Zaku, evidently didn't have a brain, since he grinned smugly and replied, "It was me!" The glare that Sasuke turned toward him could've frozen ice. The swirl of chakra intensified, the flame like markings on Sasuke's body slowly spreading from his left side toward his right.

"Wha... What's this...?" Dosu managed fearfully, "No matter how you look at it... his chakra is too huge!"

Koharu raised a brow at that, given that even now, Sasuke's chakra was nothing compared to Naruto's, especially if you took the Kyuubi into account.

"Dosu!" Zaku exclaimed, "This half-dead brat is nothing to be scared of!"

Dosu turned toward his teammate in a panic, "Stop, Zaku! Don't you understand?!"

"I'll take care of all of them in one fell swoop!" Zaku exclaimed. "Zankuuha!" When the shockwave dissipated, there was a trail in the dirt in front of Zaku, and he chuckled. "They must've been blown to pieces." He bragged.

"Who was?"

Zaku nearly choked in surprise at the sound of Sasuke's voice behind him. In a single moment, Sasuke struck the back of Zaku's neck with the back of his forearm and sent the older ninja tumbling away from him.

"Zaku!" Dosu exclaimed.

Both of the Otonin flinched as Sasuke turned his gaze toward them again and began weaving signs rapidly. "Katon! Hoosenka!" Multiple small flames headed straight toward Zaku.

"Don't push your luck! I'll blow them out!" Zaku replied as he activated his jutsu once again, but his eyes widened as he realized that the flames were not the only threat. "What?! There are shuriken inside of the flames?!" He barely had time to shield himself as the shuriken raced toward him.

"Zaku! Beneath you!" Dosu warned.

Suddenly Sasuke was crouching in front of Zaku, and before the Sound Ninja realized what was happening, the Uchiha boy had grabbed both of his arms, pulling them straight behind him while pressing his foot against Zaku's back to restrain him. The members of Team 10 began to tremble with fear at the sinister grin that appeared on Sasuke's face.

Koharu frowned as she observed what was happening with her Shinjitsugan.

"Isn't this going too far? Shouldn't we stop him?" Chino asked with concern.

"We can't." Koharu said bluntly. "Not the way he is right now. At the moment, there's only one person who can put a stop to this."

Zaku gasped in fear as Sasuke applied more pressure with his foot. "Seems like you're very proud of your arms. You!"

"S... Stop it!" Zaku begged. Sakura too, was trembling in terror now. She gasped, her eyes filling with tears as the sound of Zaku's arms snapping was heard. The Otonin screamed in agony as Sasuke shoved him away. The ebony-haired boy smirked at Dosu over his shoulder.

"You're the only one left." Those words were enough to cause Dosu to tremble as well. "You... make it a little more fun for me."

Sakura watched as Sasuke stalked toward the other shinobi, her thoughts racing. "S-Stop!" She screamed in terror, getting to her feet and dashing toward Sasuke before hugging him tightly from behind. "Stop it." Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her, his Sharingan meeting her tear-filled emerald eyes. "Please... stop." As if responding to her feelings, Sasuke's chakra levels dropped abruptly and the markings across his body receded. He dropped to the ground with Sakura supporting him. "Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke panted for a moment, but quickly caught his breath.

"You're strong." Dosu remarked, causing Sasuke and Sakura to look over at him. The Sound Shinobi held out his team's Earth Scroll. "Sasuke... We can't defeat you the way you are now." He set the scroll on the ground, "This is our fee for settling this... please let us withdraw from here." He walked over to Zaku and lifted him up, "It seems selfish, but we now have something we need to confirm, too. That being said, let's make a promise. If there's another opportunity to battle with you in this test, we won't run or hide."

Sakura looked over at Sasuke and gasped when she saw that he was exhausted before looking back at Dosu. "Wait! Who in the world is Orochimaru?! What did he do to Sasuke-kun?! Why Sasuke-kun?!"

"I don't know..." Dosu admitted, "We were just given orders to make the hit on Sasuke."

"I can answer those questions for you, Sakura-chan." Koharu replied as she and her teammates came back out into the open, "But we have some other matters to take care of first." She turned her face toward a nearby tree. "Tenten-san! Neji-san! I'll treat Lee-san's injury, but I need you guys to stick around here after that. I need to do something that will require the assistance of multiple people. Also, just so we're clear, Neji-san, what you just witnessed has nothing to do with the Uchiha Clan." She noticed Sasuke staring at his own hand in shock and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. I'll explain everything to you."

Sasuke blinked in surprise. "How long have you been here?"

"My team has been with yours since just after you were attacked last night. We tried to get there sooner, but Orochimaru sent some of his subordinates to delay us, among other things." Koharu replied as Fuushin brought Lee over to her. "Thanks. Will you and Chino-neechan find a way to wake up my brother? His chakra reserves are fine by now. He's just a dangerously heavy sleeper."

"Yeah." Fuushin said with a nod.

"Um... is he going to be okay?" Tenten asked as Koharu began treating Lee's ear.

"He'll be fine." The young medic assured her. "Most of his wounds are superficial. The damage to his inner ear is the only thing I'm concerned about. Just so we're clear, if he had ever been in danger of dying, my teammates and I would've stepped in."

"Why didn't you step in sooner?" Sasuke practically demanded.

"For the sake of Sakura-chan's growth as a shinobi." Koharu replied. "She needed to be given the chance to at least try and protect you on her own. Don't worry. Her wounds aren't as bad as they look. I'll tend to them once I'm done with Lee."

"Sakura-chan! What happened to your hair?!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed.

"Oh, this?" Sakura asked, "I decided to change my image, that's all!" She insisted, "I liked having it long, but it gets in the way in a forest like this."

"Sakura!" Ino called, "Come over here and I'll even out your hair for you!"

"That'd be great." Sakura replied.

"...All right, that will do it. You should be fine now, Lee-san." Koharu said a few minutes later as she removed her hand from Lee's ear.

"Thank you." Lee replied.

Koharu noticed that Ino had fixed Sakura's hair and beckoned them over. "Everyone, listen up. While I tend to Sakura's injuries, I'll tell you about Orochimaru and explain what just happened with Sasuke-san."

"Get on with it then." Neji replied.

Koharu sighed slightly in annoyance before holding her hand up to Sakura's face to treat it. "Orochimaru is a rogue ninja. To be more specific, he is a rogue ninja originally from Konohagakure. When the lot of us were only toddlers, he abandoned the village. Well, to be more accurate, he fled from the village after Lord Third discovered that he was conducting illegal experiments on human subjects. That being said, he is a very dangerous shinobi. Technically, he's an S-Rank criminal, but in reality, he's almost beyond that."

"What do you mean?" Chino asked.

"Orochimaru is one of three students of the Third Hokage who are collectively known as The Lengendary Three." The young medic replied, "They all graduated from the Academy at age six and became the genin team under his tutelage. This was naturally prior to his becoming Hokage. They received their shared title from Hanzō of the Salamander during the Second War, which means they are particularly famous in Amegakure as well. Anyone of them can be considered to have power equal to that of a Kage."

"We were attacked by somebody that dangerous?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Koharu replied with a nod, "As for what he did to Sasuke... I've heard it referred to as a juuin. When it activates, it gives the one who bears it a burst of power, but over time, it depletes their natural chakra reserves, hence your current exhaustion, Sasuke-san. In addition to that, the more the curse mark is used, the more it messes with the subject's psyche, resulting in rampages like the one you just went on."

"But why?" Tenten asked.

"The curse mark is derived from the Kekkei Genkai of another clan. That clan tends to absorb chakra from their surroundings, but without training in Sage Jutsu, absorption of nature chakra causes them to go crazy." Koharu explained, "Orochimaru studied that Kekkei Genkai and combined what he learned about it with his own chakra to create the curse mark. He places it on people that he's interested in obtaining. It basically drives them to seek him out."

"What do you mean by, 'obtain'?" Shikamaru asked.

"Is it like what my father used to do?" Chino added.

"Worse." Koharu replied, "Orochimaru is dangerously obsessed with Kekkei Genkai. Every three years or so, he uses a kinjutsu to take over somebody else's body, in order to avoid aging. By using a subject who possesses a Kekkei Genkai, he can obtain their powers, and even transfer it when he switches again."

"He wants Sasuke-kun for _that?!_" Sakura exclaimed in alarm.

"Yes." Koharu replied with a nod, "His ideal age for a target is sixteen. However, by the time he reaches that age, Sasuke-san might become too powerful for him to handle, so he's trying to lure him in now, while he's still inexperienced."

"You know an awful lot about this..." Sasuke remarked with suspicion.

Koharu sighed, "Orochimaru was, in part, responsible for the death of my father. He was interested in my Shinjitsugan and wanted to use me as a test subject. The people who murdered my father intended to hand me over to him. Learning as much as possible about him has been necessary."

"What about those guys from the Hidden Sound?" Ino asked.

"The Hidden Sound was established by Orochimaru." Koharu told her, "Those guys are his subordinates. That being said, they're poorly trained if they can't handle that level of bloodlust. I was subjected to much worse when I was still small."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"I'll tell you about it after the exam." She replied. "At any rate, I have no intention of letting Orochimaru have his way. That's why I'm going to remove that curse mark from your body here and now."

"You can do that?!" Tenten asked incredulously.

"Yes, but it will require an immense amount of chakra and considerable time." Koharu replied, "That's why I need everybody's help. Chino-neechan, teach Sakura-chan and Ino-chan the signs for Sanpou Fuuin. Once that's in place, I need everyone to guard us while I perform the jutsu to remove the curse mark."

"What do you mean?" Neji asked.

"Unlike most barrier jutsu, Sanpou Fuuin does not require constant maintenance by the ones who erect it." Koharu explained, "That being said, it is not impenetrable. Removing the curse mark will require using an S-Rank Hiden Fuuinjutsu of my clan. Sasuke-san and I will be completely vulnerable and I cannot afford to be interrupted while performing it. That's why I need the rest of you to guard us and protect the barrier until I'm done."

"Is it really necessary to do this _right now_?" Shikamaru asked.

"The curse mark will cause problems if I don't extract it immediately." Koharu replied, "And I'm the only person capable of doing this. There isn't anyone in all of Konoha who would know how to remove the curse mark, not even the Hokage. The best anyone else could manage would be to suppress it, which would not a long term solution."

"How do you know something like this?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"The Mayonaka specialize in Fuuinjutsu." Koharu explained. "This particular jutsu is one that only somebody who possesses the Shinjitsugan or the Byakugan could perform. That said, it also requires very precise chakra control. That's why I'm the only person who knows it."

Once the barrier was in place, the young iryouninja stood behind Sasuke while retrieving one of her ink containers from her waist pouch. "Take your shirt off."

"What?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"It's in the way, so take it off." She reiterated, "Seriously, don't argue with a medic. It's a waste of time."

Sasuke sighed and reluctantly pulled off his shirt. Ino and Sakura both had to resist the urge to turn around, lest they wind up staring at Sasuke instead of guarding him and Koharu like they were supposed to. Dipping her index finger in the ink, Koharu began scrawling the formula for her jutsu onto his body and the ground around them. "I'll warn you right now, this is _going_ to hurt. This fuuinjutsu draws on an iryouninjutsu that is extremely painful. I normally sedate a person before performing that jutsu, but we don't have time for me to sedate you again, and besides, I don't like using that drug anymore than I have to. That being said, a portion of the formula serves the purposes of restraining your movements. It probably would've been more ideal to have Shikamaru-san use his Kagemane no jutsu, but he can't sustain it long enough. Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, I'm warning you right now, he is _going_ to scream."

"Won't that draw the attention of our enemies?" Lee asked with concern.

"Why do you think I asked you guys to stick around and guard the barrier while I do this?" Koharu deadpanned. "Once I'm done with this jutsu, Team 3 and Team 10 should make themselves scarce. My comrades and I will stay with Team 7. If Orochimaru is lurking in the forest, it will be too dangerous to leave you three on your own, since Sasuke-san is his target." She turned a stern glare toward Sasuke, "And before you protest, Naruto is _my_ younger brother, and he's already been almost killed _once_. I'm not letting things get that hairy again."

"You seriously think having you there would make a difference?" Sasuke asked. "You said yourself that he's an S-Rank Criminal."

"My sensory abilities are stronger than his. The general idea would be to _avoid_ crossing paths with him again."

"If any of us sees Team 8, we should warn them of the danger." Shikamaru remarked.

"Team 8 has been in the tower since about two hours into the exam, yesterday." Koharu replied.

"How'd they finish that fast?!" Chouji exclaimed.

"They set a trap and happened to catch some Amegakure shinobi who had the scroll they needed on the first try." Koharu replied, "The three of us had to go rescue their victims. That was one of the delays that I spoke of earlier. At any rate, I warned Lord Third of Orochimaru's presence before we started yesterday, so there are probably a bunch of ANBU in the tower for security. Those three should be fine."

"I can't believe they finished so fast..." Tenten said in amazement.

"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you put three sensory types on one team." Koharu replied as she finished writing the formula onto a scroll. "I'm starting now." She stood back up and wove several signs. "Ibutsu no chakra chuushutsu to fuuinjutsu!" She hovered her left hand directly over the curse mark and her right hand over the scroll. As she predicted, Sasuke screamed in pain as the contents of curse mark flowed out from his neck, moving in a path of blue-green energy from Koharu's left hand to her right before flowing into the scroll she had placed the formula on. Ino winced at this sound, but Sakura, vaguely curious to see what Koharu was doing, turned around and watched. Considering it was Sasuke undergoing this procedure, she should've been freaked out... but she wasn't. Instead, she fascinated by the process through which Koharu extracted and sealed away the malignant curse mark.

* * *

Whew! Finally finished this chapter! Yeesh! Also, the name of the fuuinjutsu that Koharu uses translates to "Foreign Chakra Extraction and Sealing Technique"


	15. Chuunin Exams: Finishing the 2nd Exam

After Koharu finished removing the curse mark, Teams 3 and 10 took their leave while Team 7 and Koharu's team moved to another location so that Koharu and Sasuke could recover. Having at least gotten past the pain, Sasuke took out one of the food pills that Koharu had given him prior to the second exam and ate it, which was better than scavenging for food. Naruto and Sakura both did the same.

"Hey, Koharu." Sasuke said as he finished eating, "What did you mean earlier when you said that you've faced greater bloodlust?" Evidently, he wasn't willing to wait until they had completed the test to find out.

Koharu was quiet for a moment before answering, "Do you remember when some of your clansmen showed up at your house to... 'discuss' the death of Uchiha Shisui?"

Sasuke frowned at that memory, but slowly nodded. "What about it?"

"If you recall, I was there that day. They dragged me into it because they wanted me to 'help' with their investigation." Koharu replied, "At that time, I told them that their assumptions were wrong, but that I also agreed it hadn't been a suicide. Just as I was about to offer my own thoughts on the matter, however, I sensed a powerful intent to kill aimed directly at me. I just barely managed to use my kunai to deflect a poisoned senbon. Somebody had been trying to silence me."

Sasuke seemed slightly agitated as he glared at his drinking container. "That day, you said that Itachi wasn't the one who killed Shisui, but on the night that... you vanished... he told me that it was him."

"That was probably his perspective on the matter, rather than the actual truth." Koharu replied, "Even then, I had suspected that Itachi-san had been present when Shisui-san died. When one witnesses the death of someone they care for, they often blame themselves. You're familiar with that feeling, right? It's called 'survivor's guilt'." Her brow furrowed in thought, "This memory is kind of vague, because we were only three when it happened, but I sort of remember Itachi-san giving off that same aura of sadness and guilt when his teammate, Izumo Tenma was killed." She hugged her knees to her chest, "I can't count the number of times that I've felt like Papa's death was somehow my fault."

"I guess I never thought about it from that angle." Sasuke admitted.

"Since we've somehow ended up on the subject, I want to ask you: on the night of that tragedy, when you encountered your brother, did you... actually sense any intent to kill from him?" Koharu asked.

"...I figured I was too young to sense things like that." Sasuke replied in an attempt to deflect the question.

"We're shinobi. We learn to sense such things much sooner than ordinary people." Koharu said flatly, "Papa said that those of us who were infants during the Kyuubi attack are particularly sensitive."

"Then why didn't anybody else sense the intent to kill directed at you that day?" Sasuke remarked, "Itachi was right next to you, and he was in the ANBU."

"Even the most skilled shinobi can only sense things via chakra that are within 50m of themselves, unless they're a sensory type." Koharu replied, "The person who attacked me was well outside of that range. Your brother and the grownups who were there probably could've seen them with the Sharingan, but only I, with my ability to sense everything within a kilometer of my person, could notice their intent to kill from that distance."

"How did you learn how to defend against projectiles with a kunai anyway?" Sasuke asked. Koharu directed a glare at him, more than aware that he was purposely avoiding answering her earlier question, but sighed.

"The truth is that I lied a little about having seen Shisui-san the day before he died." She explained, "What I mean is, I _did _see him as I had told your clansmen, but it wasn't because he passed by the park where Naruto and I were playing. It was because he had been training me that morning."

"Training you?" Sasuke asked in confusion, and Koharu nodded.

"It was a favor to my father." She explained, "On the day you guys entered the Academy, I fell off of a cliff in the woods near your clan's compound. Your brother and Shisui-san happened to be nearby when I fell, and they managed to pull me to safety. After that, my father decided that it was best for me to learn how to use kunai to protect myself. He'd held off on it because he was concerned by my vision impairment, but that incident convinced him that I needed to learn not only how to wield a kunai, but also how to defend myself from various types of attacks. However, my father was not particularly skilled in shuriken jutsu. He knew that, since I couldn't see, I would need to be able to defend against attacks by reading my opponent's movements instead. For that, I would need to be taught by somebody who could use a variety of different shuriken techniques, in order to learn how the weapons would fly by the way they were thrown. I also needed somebody who was skilled in at least kenjutsu to train me to defend against more than just projectiles. Since the Uchiha were well known for their aptitude for shuriken jutsu and Shisui-san was also adept at kenjutsu, my father asked him to teach me. It wasn't just a matter of skill. Shisui-san was a kind person, one of the few people in the village that I trusted. Since his missions were a potential problem, my father also conferred with Lord Third about this. It was decided that Shisui-san would train me in the mornings and Lord Third would ensure that he didn't have any missions during those hours. For my safety, this was a secret from the rest of the village and your clan."

"For your safety?" Sakura piped up in confusion. Until now, she had simply been listening quietly, along with Naruto, who had known about bits and pieces of all this.

"There were those in the village who didn't want me to learn how to be a shinobi." Koharu explained, "Because they feared the power of my Shinjitsugan."

"Neechan, you actually had some pretty tough training back then, huh?" Naruto remarked, "I knew Hinata's dad was training you in the afternoons while we were at the Academy, but I always figured Touchan was the one teaching you about kunai."

"You took lessons from the head of the Hyūga as well?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"That was because Lord Hiashi offered after hearing about the cliff incident." Koharu said, "It was a means to keep me out of trouble without disturbing my father's work at the hospital. The Mayonaka inherited the Hyūga's Hiden taijutsu style and Hinata-chan was my best friend, so he kind of took pity on me. Still..." She leaned back against the tree, "Training under Shisui-san in the morning and then Lord Hiashi in the afternoon, followed by sparring with Hinata-chan when she was done at the Academy, to say nothing of my academic studies... I probably had a harder training regimen than most of the students at the Academy."

"And they still thought you couldn't be a shinobi?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"It's not so much that they doubted my ability." Koharu replied, "In fact, it would be more accurate to say that certain people _feared_ my potential. You forget that those of us with Kekkei Genkai often face the danger of being feared for our abilities, and those with visual prowess tend to get the worst of that."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Think of it this way." Koharu told her, "Members of the Yuki Clan are still out there, they're just hiding. But the Mayonaka, Uchiha, and Chinoike are all down to _one_ known survivor, not counting the member who destroyed them. There's a reason for that difference." She sighed and stood up, "Sasuke-san, if you're ready, we should get moving. I'd like for us to obtain the other scroll for your team and make it into the tower by nightfall."

"Our scroll? What about you guys, Neechan?" Naruto asked.

"We've had both scrolls since early on yesterday." Koharu replied, "Yakushi Kabuto's team confronted us early on and got their butts handed to them. So all we need to do is find another scroll for you guys."

"Why are you so concerned with helping us?" Sasuke asked.

"For all we know, Orochimaru is still lurking in this forest. I'm not going to leave you three to fend for yourselves against him." Koharu answered. When Sasuke opened his mouth to protest, Koharu held her hand out to stop him, "Naruto is my little brother. I'm going to protect him from that creep. Especially since I couldn't protect Papa. Besides, we're talking about an S-Class criminal. You three can't manage against that guy alone. To my knowledge, his only weakness is particularly strong genjutsu, the kind that only visual prowess can cast. Since you're not a genjutsu expert, that means Chino-neechan's abilities are our best bet."

"Tch. Fine." Sasuke said.

"So how do we go about obtaining the other scroll?" Sakura asked, and Koharu grinned.

"Easy. We'll use the same strategy as the previous record holder."

病

Following Koharu's strategy, Team 7 found it easy to obtain their other scroll, without any assistance from her and her teammates at all. After that, the six young shinobi began making their way to the tower. They were still a distance away when Koharu suddenly sensed something.

"Hey! Hold on a minute!" She called, and the entire group came to a stop.

"What's wrong?" Fuushin asked.

"A genjutsu trap. It has no influence on me, but it will cause the rest of you to go in circles." Koharu replied, "I can tell by the disturbances in everyone's chakra except for mine."

"So then, what should we do?" Sakura asked, "Is there a way to dispel it?"

"Not without defeating the caster." Aiko replied, "This type of genjutsu can only be seen through by using a visual prowess. But it's not possible to free individuals from it." She turned her head toward something the others couldn't see, but that she could sense. "This kind of trap is a common technique in Ame. The intention is to wear us out and then attack. Really, it's a cowardly strategy. If they don't at least have the courage to face an enemy head on, they're never going to make Chuunin."

"Okay, so where does that leave us?" Fuushin asked, raising a brow as Koharu withdrew the tanto that she had summoned from a scroll earlier and nonchalantly used it to deflect a kunai that was thrown at her. "Only half of us have some kind of visual prowess."

"You realize that statistic in and of itself is abnormal, right?" Sakura asked.

Koharu snorted, "Sakura-chan, trust me, _nobody_ in this group is normal, not even you." She abruptly threw a kunai to deflect another that had been thrown at her without flinching.

"What should we do though?" Chino asked, "Using visual prowess requires a lot of chakra. I'm older than Sasuke-chan, so it's not as big a deal for me, but..."

"Sasuke-san actually has a great deal more chakra than most genin his age, but he still hasn't fully recovered from earlier." Koharu remarked, this time batting away two shuriken with her tanto. Sasuke raised a brow.

"Why are they only attacking you?" He asked bluntly.

"They're just mad that I called them cowards." Koharu replied, "If they were _smart, _they would consider that there was a _reason_ why I was handpicked by the higher-ups in our village to take this exam."

"A reason?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"I'll explain later." Koharu told him, "At any rate, there's no need for either of you to waste your chakra, Chino-neechan. Since Team 8 is already at the tower, I'll follow their chakra, and the rest of you can follow me."

"You're even going to help us over your own comrades?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

"I told you, Naruto is my little brother, and as his older sister, I will protect him." The blue-haired girl replied, "Besides, Orochimaru is also an enemy of the Hidden Rain. Interfering with his objectives takes precedence over the exam itself. Besides, those guys _clearly_ need an opportunity for growth."

* * *

This chapter is a little short, but that's mainly because the previous chapter was so long. And after writing previous chapter, I didn't feel like writing the relatively short-lived battle that was Team 7 taking down another team to get their scroll.

By the way, the previous record holder was Itachi. His strategy involved basically using the scroll as bait by heading straight for the tower with his scroll visible enough that people could see what kind it was.


	16. Reports and Cover Stories

"Hey guys!" Naruto exclaimed as his team joined up with Koharu's after they had entered the tower through separate entrances. Koharu shook her head in amusement.

"We _just_ saw each other five minutes ago, Naruto." She said with a small smile.

"I know but like, now it's all official and everything!" Naruto exclaimed happily. Koharu cracked up laughing, much to her brother's confusion.

"Come on, you goofball." She said while placing a hand on his shoulder, "Let's go meet up with Team 8."

"Have any of the other teams made it here yet?" Sakura asked.

"Team 3 is already here. I suspect they were doing reconnaissance when Lee-san came across us." Koharu stated, "They got here ahead of us only because Sasuke-san and I had to recover from my fuinjutsu. Team 10 isn't here yet, but they'll be fine. Their Ino-Shika-Chou formation goes back generations, and they've been training with it since the Academy, so their teamwork is flawless. On top of that, Shikamaru-san is _far_ more intelligent than he lets on. I have no doubt that they'll make it here." She frowned slightly, "Yakushi Kabuto's team has already made it here, despite our taking their scroll yesterday."

"What exactly is the deal with you and him anyway?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say." Koharu replied, "But I can tell you that he's a snake and none of you should trust him under any circumstances. Also, he's far more dangerous than he appears. His skills are well above that of a genin."

"Then why hasn't he already passed the exam?" Sasuke asked.

"Saa..." Koharu replied, her expression unreadable.

"Huh? Oh! Naruto and crew! You guys made it too!" Kiba explained as they entered another room. He looked at Koharu and her teammates, "And, uh... who are you guys again?"

Chino puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, "Just because we're not from your village, you can't remember our names?!"

"Calm down, Chino-neechan. That's just his personality. I doubt he knows even half the names of the Genin who _are_ from Konoha." Koharu said before redirecting her attention. "What's the matter with Akamaru-chan? He's terrified."

Kiba looked down at Akamaru, who was trembling inside of his jacket and placed a hand on his head, "Oh, uh... we happened to witness a fight between some guys from Amegakure and those dudes from the Sand. Well, really, 'fight' is a loose term. That Gaara kid totally slaughtered those other guys. Literally. It wasn't pretty. Akamaru has been scared ever since."

Koharu sighed and turned toward her comrades, "Didn't I issue a warning to our comrades before this exam to avoid engaging Gaara of the Sand at all costs?"

"Not everyone is smart enough to listen to you, even though the village leaders told us beforehand to heed any warnings that you gave." Fuushin replied.

Koharu sighed. "Great. So we've got one team dead, one team that would've died if we hadn't rescued them from a trap, and one team that's too chicken to face their enemy head-on. This is just embarrassing for the Hidden Rain."

"That would be why they sent us." Fuushin remarked.

Koharu snorted, "No kidding." She walked over to Akamaru and placed a hand on his head, her palm glowing softly. Kiba noticed that his beloved dog stopped trembling a moment later.

"What did you do?" The Inuzuka boy asked.

"The Mystic Palm technique can also be used to heal psychological trauma, although it's extremely difficult compared to healing a physical wound." Koharu explained. "Anyway—"

"Mayonaka Koharu." A voice interrupted, and they all saw a member of the ANBU standing in the doorway that led further into the tower. "Please come with me."

"The ANBU?!" Kiba exclaimed in surprise.

Koharu seemed tense, but she directed her eyes to meet his. "Understood." She said respectfully before walking over to the man.

"Neechan?" Naruto asked in concern.

Koharu smiled at Naruto over her shoulder, "It's all right, Naruto. You don't need to worry."

"But..."

"Naruto, it's all right." A voice said as Kakashi came and stood beside the ANBU member, "We just need to ask Koharu some questions."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "You want to know what happened after she was taken from the village by Itachi."

Kakashi's visible eye widened and he tensed slightly. "How did you know about that?"

"I was there when the Third told Naruto. I just now remembered though." Sasuke replied, an edge to his voice. He turned his gaze toward Koharu, "You lied to me. You said that Itachi wasn't the reason you vanished from Konoha."

"I didn't lie." Koharu replied, "Your older brother _did _take me with him that night, but he didn't kill my father, nor was he the reason that I didn't come back. I told you before, there were people in the village who feared my visual prowess. They didn't have a problem with breaking a few rules in order to get rid of me. Representing another village in this Exam gives me a certain amount of protection, but coming back for real was never an option. Your older brother didn't kidnap me that night. He _saved_ me."

"Why?!" Sasuke demanded angrily, "Why would he kill our entire clan and then turn around and save _you?!"_

"Oi! Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed angrily.

"It was to his personal benefit." Koharu replied evenly, "The Mangekyou Sharingan places strain upon the optic nerves. He was suffering from the backlash of that. Your older brother _knew _that I was skilled in iryouninjutsu and that I could treat his eyes. He saved me because I was _useful_ to him. That's the nature of Kekkei Genkai, you either end up being feared or being used, unless you have a village to protect you." She looked down sadly, "By the time your older brother found me, we were already well outside of the village's borders. Considering how strong he is, the higher-ups in the village probably deemed that it wasn't worth the risk to try and retrieve me and marked me as a lost cause."

Sasuke seemed to process this. "Was he the one that you learned shuriken jutsu from?" He asked in a quiet demand. Koharu sighed.

"It told you before that I received self-defense training from Uchiha Shisui and that I can use my Shinjitsugan to copy techniques in a manner similar to the Sharingan. Do you really think I wasn't paying attention to the way he moved when he threw shuriken at me? The whole _point_ was for me to learn how to defend myself by watching an opponent's movements." Sasuke seemed to accept this and Koharu sighed sadly, grasping her upper arm in a self-conscious manner. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-san. It wasn't my wish to keep secrets from you. You have a right to know the truth, but... The entire thing has placed me in a very... awkward position. I can't just come out and speak the truth without caution. I did that when I was little... and I paid dearly for it..."

"Neechan..." Naruto said softly, his face filled with worry.

Koharu turned toward the two adults, "Do we have to do this? I've already spoken with Lord Third regarding what happened."

"I know, but we just need a bit more detail from you to put other people's mind at ease." The ANBU told her.

Kakashi squatted to her level and placed a hand on her head. "Just relax. Nothing that happened after that night will be held against you. After all, you were taken by Itachi because we failed to protect you." Koharu nodded, able to sense both men's sincerity and Kakashi stood back up. "Don't worry Naruto. I'll look out for her."

"Yeah." Naruto replied, having little choice but to trust his teacher.

"Let's hurry this up then." Koharu said with a sigh, "I need to speak to Lord Third about a certain 'white snake' as soon as possible." Both adults seemed to catch the girl's meaning and they lead her to another room. The young girl turned and placed her sound-sealing jutsu upon the room to ensure privacy. "Before we start, how much do the two of you already know?" Koharu asked them.

Kakashi immediately understood her meaning and answered, "We're both aware that your father was killed by members of Root on that night."

"That makes this easier than." Koharu said with a nod, "May I ask what actions Lord Third took in response to that?"

"Root was disbanded, and Danzou has been on house arrest ever since." Kakashi answered.

Koharu scoffed at that, but turned to the subject at hand. "As I told Sasuke-san, Itachi-san took me with him because I was useful to him, but frankly speaking, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. He needed a medic and I needed protection. Outside of that, however, I've never been involved in his activities since leaving Konoha. He never took me into combat situations. Depending on where he was going, sometimes he wouldn't even take me into the borders of his destination."

"Was he the one who trained you?" Kakashi asked bluntly.

"Sort of." Koharu remarked. "I could be a kilometer away and still observe his actions without straining myself, as well as the actions of others. In that way, I could pick up a variety of ninjutsu through simple observation. However, that's not to say that he didn't give me proper combat training when he could. Being able to defend myself when he wasn't around was necessary. And... I sort of lied to Sasuke-san about my shuriken training. It's true that I was able to put many of the techniques I'd seen Uchiha Shisui perform into practice, but only after Itachi-san had taught me the basics. There were also things he taught me that Shisui-san had never used, because teaching me to dodge the weapon in question was just too dangerous. However, my taijutsu training has primarily been that which I learned beforehand, the results of my own practice, or things that I've recently learned in the past week."

"How did you end up as a shinobi of the Hidden Rain?" The shinobi from the ANBU asked.

"That was something of a coincidence." Koharu answered. "While I was waiting for Itachi-san to return from a mission, I was abducted by a weapons dealer who was a 'collector' of people with Kekkei Genkai. He took me to an illegal gambling venue, where the rich would pit enslaved shinobi against each other, with ownership of the losing shinobi being transferred to whomever claimed ownership of the winner. That was how I met Chino-neechan and Fuushin-niichan. The two of them had been enslaved by my abductor. However, the Hidden Rain learned of this place, the Coliseum, and took it upon themselves to shut it down whilst apprehending patrons. After that, they took in all of the enslaved shinobi, particularly promising protection to those of us with Kekkei Genkai. We would be properly registered as shinobi and guaranteed a safe place to live, where we wouldn't have to fear mistreatment and abuse for our abilities. One of the higher-ups of the Hidden Rain took a liking to me and became my surrogate mother. Because I was already familiar with them, I was placed on a team with Chino-neechan and Fuushin-niichan. That, and the three of us make for a surprisingly well-balanced team." She looked down, "In truth, I would love to be able to return to Konoha. Although I like Amegakure and I have friends there, Naruto is my brother, and in my heart, Konoha is still my home." She shook her head, "But as long as Shimura Danzou lives, coming back for real just isn't an option."

"We understand your situation, Koharu." Kakashi said with a nod, "And that should be enough to satisfy the elders." When Koharu raised a brow at him, he coughed, "Well, okay, it probably won't." He admitted, "But Lord Third has already made it clear that Konoha will not hold your circumstances against you. You wound up in that situation because the village failed to protect you in the first place."

"I think you mean to say I wound up in that situation because one of the village leaders did the exact opposite of protecting me." Koharu said bluntly, "In fact, before being taken in by Amegakure, I needed an S-Rank criminal to protect me from that person. Are we done here? I still need to speak to Lord Third."

"Yeah, I'll take you to him." Kakashi said with a nod.

"I would feel better if your comrade took me to Lord Third while you kept an eye on Sasuke-san. I'm sure you already know about the matter of the curse mark. The good news is, I've removed it. The bad news is, it's only a matter of time before Orochimaru figures that out. As it is, he's already in this building."

"If that's the case, can't you just show us where he is?" The other shinobi asked.

Koharu raised a brow, "Do you _want_ a deadly battle to break out here in the tower, smack in the middle of the Chuunin Exam? The only person who could possibly defeat Orochimaru in combat without risking huge collateral damage would be Itachi-san."

"If you say that, that means you've seen him do it." Kakashi stated.

"A few years back." Koharu said with a nod, "Itachi-san was his original target. However, the battle was over before it even began. Orochimaru was no match for Itachi-san's genjutsu. His subordinate was forced to rescue him and retreat." She sighed, "I should hope it never comes to this, but, I'll be blunt. The only people capable of withstanding Itachi-san's genjutsu are me, with my Shinjitsugan, and Sasuke-san, if he hones his abilities well enough. However, currently, he is nowhere near that level."

Kakashi nodded in understanding before looking at his comrade, "Take her to Lord Third, I'll go keep tabs on Sasuke."

"You'd better keep an eye on Naruto too. Orochimaru messed with his seal. Fortunately, I was able to fix that too." Koharu remarked bluntly.

"You're every bit the prodigy I'd once heard you were, aren't you?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm not entirely sure I'm talented half so much as experienced." She replied while following the shinobi from the ANBU.

病

The Third Hokage was in another room, speaking with Anko and various other shinobi when the shinobi who was guiding Koharu knocked on the door before entering.

"Please excuse me, Lord Third." He said, opening the door wider to let Koharu through, "I've brought Mayonaka Koharu. She said she needed to speak with you."

"Yes, what is it, Koharu?" Hiruzen asked.

"I'm afraid that it's a delicate matter that will require us to speak in private, Lord Third, but first, Anko-sensei, is the curse mark on your neck bothering you? It appears to be acting up." Koharu said in one breath.

"First, how did you know about that, and second, how did you know it's acting up?" Anko demanded to know.

"I sensed it on the day of the written exam. I know Orochimaru's chakra." Koharu explained, "I was going to ask you about it, but thought better of it because of who was in the room at the time. As for your second question, it's just something that I can detect with my sensory abilities, the same as the curse mark itself. If it's causing you pain, which it appears to be, I can place a suppression seal on it. The jutsu to completely remove and seal it is difficult and would take a long time to complete, given the age of the mark and your own chakra reserves, but you've been able to resist it for the past eleven years, so I'm not too concerned about that."

"How did you—"

"For the sake of self-preservation, I've learned all that I can about that man." Koharu answered before Anko could finish, walking over to the woman to place the suppression seal. "By the way, you _might_ want to work on your ability to identify chakra. He was literally standing right behind you and you didn't realize it. I know you're not a sensory type, but you should at least be able to sense things about people in your personal space."

Anko sweat-dropped.

"Oh, and _by the way, _my brother did _not_ end up dying. At all. Even though Orochimaru did try. Naruto may be immature, but he has a keen ability to sense danger and a strong survival instinct that enables him to come up with brilliant plans to get out of sticky situations on the spot. I don't know if that's something he comes by naturally or if it's caused by the Kyuubi, but either way, he managed to survive in that forest quite well on his own, even after he'd been separated from his teammates and swallowed by a giant snake summons. And all of that was before my team caught up with his, mind you."

Anko sweat-dropped again and then blinked in surprise, "Wait, you know about the Kyuubi?"

"_Of course_ I know about the Kyuubi." Koharu said in exasperation, "I was trained to be able to maintain Naruto's seal and prevent it from weakening. My father _was _the student of Lord Fourth and Lady Kushina."

Hiruzen cleared his throat. "If you're done, Koharu, we should proceed to a different room."

"Oh, of course. Please excuse me." She said before following the old man. The member from the ANBU tried to follow them into the room that the Third took her to, but she politely stopped him. "I'm sorry, but I really need to speak with Lord Third _alone_." The man looked past her at Hiruzen, who nodded slightly. The shinobi then nodded back and stepped out to wait for them. Koharu placed a seal on the door after closing it and turned to face the Hokage. "First, I have some information for you regarding Orochimaru. It would seem that the team from the Hidden Sound are his subordinates. He ordered them to assassinate Sasuke-san after placing the curse mark on him. Fortunately, Sakura-chan and Rock Lee, with a little help from Team 10 and my own team, were able to fend them off until Sasuke-san regained consciousness, at which point, he promptly lost it upon seeing that Sakura-chan had been beaten to a pulp while he was out. Fortunately, Sakura-chan managed to soothe him and afterward, I removed the curse mark while Teams 2 and 10 stood by with Naruto, Sakura-chan, and my own comrades. I suggest you place a member of the ANBU to keep watch over Sasuke-san until the Exams have concluded, although I intend to also watch over Team 7 personally. Also, Orochimaru is currently in this building. Given the information I currently have, he's probably posing as a jounin instructor from Otogakure. However, attempting to corner him here and now would be far too dangerous."

Hiruzen nodded, "What did you tell Kakashi and our ANBU operative?"

"I gave them the cover story given to me by my superiors in the Hidden Rain." She answered briskly, "Now, onto the reason I wanted to speak to you in private. I understand that you placed Danzou under house arrest following what happened to the Uchiha Clan and my father, but never took any further action." When Hiruzen opened his mouth to speak, Koharu politely held up her hand, "I don't need to know your reason. However, I have reason to believe that Danzou may have placed you under a genjutsu in order to stay your hand."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes slightly, "What do you mean?" He asked.

"When Uchiha Shisui committed suicide, he did so in order to hide a very dangerous incident from his clan: Danzou had attacked him and stolen his right eye. Shisui's Mangekyou Sharingan enabled him to use Kotoamatsukami, a genjutsu that can implant suggestions in the target's brain and make them think it was their own idea. Furthermore, it does not require direct eye contact with the target, meaning that Danzou would be able to cast it while keeping his right eye covered." The midnight-haired girl explained.

The Hokage looked thoughtful, "What you're suggesting is rather disturbing, Koharu. Is there any way of confirming it?"

"There is." Koharu said with a nod, "Between the second and third exams, go to Danzou and tell him that you've learned that he's continued to cooperate with Orochimaru even after he was forced out of the village. This is completely true, because I learned from Yakushi Kabuto when he and Orochimaru attacked Sensei and I three years ago that Danzou had planned on handing me over to Orochimaru for who-knows-what purpose. The new information should be enough to override any previous suggestions he's used on you regarding that night. When Danzou hears of this, I'll watch to see if he uses the Kotoamatsukami. If he does, I will undo it and inform you. Kotoamatsukami is not hard to release, but it is not something that the target can shake free of on their own."

"I see..." The Hokage said thoughtfully.

"If Danzou doesn't use the eye that he stole, then I will respect whatever course of action you choose as Hokage." She added.

"Very well." Hiruzen said with a nod. "But for now, get some rest. There are still three days left in the exam."

"Right."

病

Upon arriving at the room that she and Chino would be sharing with Sakura for the remainder of the test, Koharu politely asked to be left alone for a bit, which the other two girls obliged to. She placed her sound-proofing seal upon the door and sat on her bed, forming a sign with one hand and closing her eyes. "It's me. I'm calling to make a report."

A moment later, Koharu felt herself appear in the meeting space where the members of Akatsuki always held their meetings. Pain and Konan appeared as well, along with Zetsu, Itachi, and Kisame.

"Well, Koharu-chan, how is your first mission going?" Kisame asked.

"Less than ideal, but then, things are hardly ever 'ideal' for me." Koharu replied bluntly.

"What do you mean?" Konan asked, Koharu knew the woman was asking her to elaborate on what "less than ideal" meant.

"My team and I have been under surveillance since we got here, both by Root and the ANBU I suspect. However, the surveillance by the ANBU will probably loosen up a bit, as I was 'interviewed' by one of their members a while ago. I gave them the cover story that you and Sensei developed for me prior to the mission." Koharu explained.

"Did they believe you?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah." Koharu replied, "Kakashi-san was there as well, and from his chakra, he was probably the one who found my father's body five years ago. Both he and the ANBU operative knew that Papa was killed by Root, so the story was easy for them to believe."

"What about the exam itself?" Pain asked.

"My team and I have made it through the second round, but the whole thing would be a lot easier if I didn't have to deal with the problem of Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto." Koharu told him, "Both of them know my position. However, the timeframe of Orochimaru's betrayal was conveniently before I was 'rescued' by Amegakure, so it's not like they could uproot my cover story. At least not completely. The problem is Sensei's younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke. He's been the most suspicious of me, although I can't really blame him for that. However, I've also managed to confirm that at least one of Orochimaru's goals is getting to Sasuke-san. He attacked Team 7 in the forest and marked Sasuke-san with his juuin. Fortunately, I was able to remove it. He also tried to kill my brother. And messed with his seal. I'm not particularly happy about either one, but fortunately, Naruto's a lot smarter than people give him credit for, and I've already corrected his seal. However, the concern is what will happen when Orochimaru finds out that the curse mark was removed from Sasuke-san, and what exactly his other objective is."

"Why do you think he has a second objective?" Konan asked.

"I can sense it." Koharu said simply before putting her thumb to her lip in thought, "There's something else that's bothering me though... the Hidden Sand has sent their jinchuuriki to the exam. Considering that Naruto is also taking the exam, that wouldn't be too suspicious, except... the kid is a homicidal maniac. Seriously, his blood lust is on par with Hidan's if not worse. And that's really scary coming from a kid who is roughly my age. I'm honestly not even sure who's in control, the boy or the beast. Why in the world would Sunagakure send such an unstable jinchuuriki that they obviously can't control to Konoha for the exams? The only answer that I can come up with is..."

"They plan to start a war against Konoha at some point during the exams." Itachi finished, catching onto his student's line of thinking.

"Exactly." Koharu said, "The only question is as to whether they have allied with Orochimaru for that purpose." She sighed, "That reminds me; I might as well give you an update on the other teams from Amegakure."

"Go ahead." Konan said with a nod.

Koharu sighed, "From what I know, half of us passed the written exam. Among those who passed, one team was killed while trying to challenge that Ichibi kid and his team, despite my express warning beforehand to _avoid_ engaging Gaara and his siblings at all costs. The second team nearly died after getting caught in a trap set by my friend Hinata's team, or more specifically, they _would have _died if my team and I hadn't rescued them. They'll be lucky if they make it out of the forest alive. The last team is using a genjutsu trap near the tower to try to wear down an enemy team and then attack when they're exhausted. It's a cowardly tactic that is unlikely to work, and even if it does, it won't carry them far in the third exam, which consists of individual matches. If they're smart, they'll heed what I said and take a more direct approach, but I doubt they will. They're rather ill-tempered to be honest. They kept trying to throw things at me while I was discussing things with Naruto's team and my own. Even if they _do _somehow make it to the third round, neither of the surviving teams are Chuunin material. You can't complete a mission if you can't manage to survive, yet at the same time, simply surviving won't actually get the job done. Both teams fail to grasp that concept. The teams that failed the written exam all lacked the courage to face the unknown."

"We appreciate the information." Konan told her, "Now we know where those teams will need to improve."

"To be honest, I'm not sure how far my team will make it from here." Koharu added, "I have no chance against Gaara of the Sand as I am now, and Chino-Neechan is concerned about revealing her Ketsuryuugan. Fuushin-niichan could fight him, but the level of attacks he would need to use against that kid would literally blow away the arena. Where we can go from here will depend on who we're matched up against. However, at the very least, we _will_ make it to the Third exams. We can't afford to leave a month early. Doing so would mean leaving my brother and Sasuke-san open to being attacked by Orochimaru again, and that is _not_ happening."

Pain nodded, "Keep an eye on Orochimaru's movements and continue to keep us updated."

* * *

Notes: Okay, so first, "saa" is usually translated as "who knows" or "I wonder" or sometimes "now", depending on the context. However, in the context that Koharu used it, she was deflecting Sasuke's question, so I really wasn't sure how to translate it and just used the original word instead.

I will state for the record that Koharu hates lying through her teeth to her allies, especially Sasuke. Her natural inclination is to both tell the truth and expose it. Lying to enemies, she doesn't really care about, but lying to people she does care about deeply troubles her. I should perhaps be clear though that Koharu does _not_ care about Sasuke in a romantic way. At all. I'm not even sure if she quite considers him to be a friend at this point. But she does care deeply about his wellbeing because he is the younger brother whom Itachi loves more than anyone. Thus, because of her attachment and loyalty to Itachi, she wants to protect Sasuke on his behalf.

Also, her attempts to take down Danzō through Hiruzen were not on the agendas given to by Akatsuki nor Itachi. This is Koharu's personal mission to seek justice for her father and—to a slightly lesser extent—the Uchiha Clan. That said, even if Danzō were to be executed, she would continue traveling with Itachi because she believes that he needs her—and from a medical standpoint, he kind of does.

I am excited for moving onto the preliminary matches for the Chuunin Exam's third round though.

Oh, lastly, before the second exam began, Koharu was muttering to herself that it was scary to think that there was a special jounin who was actually _more_ dense than Naruto, but then she realized that Naruto is a sensory type who has a tendency to tap into his abilities by instinct, so it wasn't really fair to compare Anko to him. That said, she still thinks it's pathetic that Anko couldn't tell when Orochimaru was _literally _right behind her, considering that Itachi, who is also not a sensory type, can tell when there is somebody within ten feet of him and even identify them if he knows them.


	17. Prelude to the Third Round Preliminaries

"So what did you want to talk about, Koharu-chan?" Sakura asked as she sat on her bed with Naruto, Sasuke, and Fuushin sitting on Chino's bed and Koharu and Chino sitting on Koharu's. Koharu had asked to talk to Team 7 in private, and had already placed her sound-proofing seal on the room.

"They'll be announcing the end of the exam soon. Based on my knowledge of prior Chuunin Exams and the current number of teams who have passed, they'll be holding a preliminary before the third exam, immediately after this one ends." Koharu explained, "Long story short, too many of us have passed for them to hold the third exam in a timely manner. Information that I've managed to obtain indicates that Yakushi Kabuto usually drops around this point, but I'm not going to let him."

"What exactly is it with you and that guy?" Sasuke asked, and Koharu sighed.

"Since the matter of my whereabouts before becoming a member of Ame has already been revealed, I'll tell you." She said, "Two or three years ago, Orochimaru attacked your older brother on the road with the intention of using him as a subject for a kinjutsu. The short version is that he wants to obtain the Sharingan. At that time, I was hiding nearby, since I would only get in the way. However, Yakushi Kabuto attacked me where I was hiding and rendered me immobile by injuring my leg. It was then that I learned that he was Orochimaru's subordinate, and that my father had been killed by allies of Orochimaru's here in Konoha, because Orochimaru wanted to use me as a lab rat."

"What happened?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"Fortunately, Kabuto had to go and assist Orochimaru and help him to escape because Itachi-san was wiping the floor with him." Koharu replied.

"Eh?!" Naruto exclaimed, "Sasuke's older brother is that strong?!"

"Don't underestimate the genjutsu abilities of the Sharingan." Chino said, "You might wind up—" Koharu quickly slapped her hand over her teammate's mouth.

"Let's _not _go there, Chino-neechan." The teenager said through her teeth. She sighed and pulled her hand away, "Anyway, Orochimaru fled with his tail between his legs, and I had the good fortune of crossing paths with an incredibly skilled medic while Itachi-san was out gathering information. That said, I have good reason for despising Yakushi Kabuto. However, that was three years ago. I've grown much stronger since then. And I intend to show it to him."

"You called us in here just to tell us that?" Sasuke asked.

"No." Koharu said bluntly, "I called you in here partially to warn you, Sasuke-san, that you shouldn't use your Sharingan during the preliminaries. If Orochimaru's Fuuin were still in place, you wouldn't be able to use your Sharingan because of it. A temporary side effect that would wear off by the actual third exam. That said, Orochimaru will be watching the prelims. If you use your Sharingan, he'll realize that the mark has been removed, and that will cause more problems."

"Wait, what do you mean he'll be watching?!" Sakura asked.

"Orochimaru infiltrated the tower before we even got here." Koharu explained, "Don't worry, the Hokage and ANBU already know and are keeping a close eye, but they can't be hasty or they'd put everyone here in danger."

"He's really _that_ dangerous?" Sakura asked.

"I told you: He's an S-Class Criminal. He'd probably be higher than S-Class if there were such a thing. To say his skills are of Kage level is no exaggeration." The blue-haired girl said.

Sakura silently feared just how powerful Uchiha Itachi was if that was the case.

"However, if worst comes to worst, we have Chino-neechan to help us. Because of the incident three years ago, I now know that even if he's unaffected by ordinary genjutsu, Orochimaru can still fall prey to genjutsu created by a visual prowess." The Mayonaka girl said. "Chino-neechan's genjutsu isn't equal to that of Itachi-san's, but she's skilled enough to help people stay alive."

"How can you even tell? You're immune to genjutsu." Chino asked.

"I've learned to discern the strength of a genjutsu by the degree to which a person's chakra flow is disturbed." Koharu explained. "Although I admit that I've never had a chance to analyze the fluctuations caused by Tsukuyomi... it's too fleeting." She shook her head, "Anyways, be careful you three."

"Can you tell us who else has qualified?" Sasuke asked, and Koharu nodded.

"It's mostly Konoha-nin. Overwhelmingly so. You already know that all three rookie teams have made it through, which is basically unprecedented. And obviously there's my other teams are Gaara and his siblings, Team 3, the team from Otogakure, and Kabuto's team. It's kind of putting it loosely to say that those last three are really from Konoha. They're all subordinates of Orochimaru."

"And the opponents we should be concerned with?" Sasuke asked.

Koharu sighed, "The biggest threat from Team 8 is Aburame Shino. He comes from a clan of insect users, meaning that his jutsu are quite dangerous. On top of that, he's very intelligent and able to keep his cool in battle. Hinata-chan is also talented, but she tends to be held back by her own gentle nature. Kiba is probably the least skilled of the three, and is full of hot air, but his combination attacks with Akamaru-chan should not be underestimated. On Team 10, Akimichi Chouji poses the smallest threat. His size is of concern, but he doesn't quite have the brains to make full use of that yet. Ino-chan is relatively average as a kunoichi, however, be forewarned, her clan's hiden jutsu is extremely dangerous. If she manages to catch you in it, your defeat is almost certain. Nara Shikamaru stands out in precisely one way: he's ridiculously smart. Far smarter than he seems, and is an incredibly gifted strategist. Like Shino-san, he possesses the ability to keep his cool and analyze things carefully. You already know Rock Lee's abilities. According to what I know, his teammate Tenten is a weapon's specialist, while Hyūga Neji is a prodigy in his clan's hiden style of taijutsu."

Naruto grinned, "But you've beat him before, Neechan!"

"I kind of remember that when I think about it..." Sasuke muttered, "But only because you asked Itachi to be the referee."

Koharu laughed awkwardly, "Yes, well, that was years ago. Which of us has grown more in that period of time remains to be seen. I don't make a habit of underestimating opponents. It's dangerous. Orochimaru did that and lost a hand. At any rate, I've already warned you three that Gaara of the Sand is extremely dangerous. Sakura-Chan, if you get matched up with him, forfeit. You don't stand a chance. Same goes for you, Sasuke. I know you want to fight that kid, but your only hope of defeating him is when you are able to fight him without holding back. That won't be the case in the prelims."

"But I'm okay?" Naruto asked.

"You're the only one I wouldn't advise against it per se." Koharu told him, "Although that's mainly because your chakra reserves outclass his and there certain _similarities _between the two of you."

"Similarities?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Classified." Koharu said bluntly, causing Naruto to instantly understand. "Anyway, his older brother Kankuro is a puppet master, which is common in Sunagakure. His puppets have poisoned weapons hidden inside of them, so watch out. I have the antidote for the standard poison used by Suna-nin, but... don't go tempting fate, okay? I don't know much about their sister Temari's abilities, but her chakra has a very strong wind property, so she probably makes heavy use of wind style. Sasuke-san, you can take advantage of that by using Katon, which is strong against wind style. Among the Oto-nin... Kin's chakra suggests that she specializes in genjutsu, probably by using sound. Zaku specializes in manipulating air pressure and ultrasonic waves. Dosu specializes in using sound waves to attack his enemies' eardrums and semicircular canals. I don't think it would do much against the air pressure attacks, but any attack involving sound can be defended against using Suiton. That said... Sasuke-san, take these." With that, the teenaged girl held her hand out to Sasuke to reveal something in her palm.

"What are these?" Sasuke asked.

"Specially designed earplugs. They have a sealing jutsu applied to block out sound, similar to my seal on this room. Officially, they're considered a ninja tool, so you can use them if you go up against Dosu. I prepared these for you because Dosu's attacks are invisible to normal people and can't be dodged. You're the only one of us who can't use Suiton or some other kind of ninjutsu or genjutsu to defend against that." Koharu explained.

"What do you mean, 'invisible to normal people'?" Sakura asked.

"I can see it because of the chakra used to guide the attacks." Koharu explained, and Naruto grinned broadly.

"Hehe! When it comes to chakra, there's nothing that Neechan can't see-ttebayo!"

"We should get going." Chino said, "They'll be announcing the end of the exam soon."

"Before that, I want to talk to Koharu. Alone." Sasuke said. When Fuushin and Chino looked at her uncertainly, the blue-haired girl nodded to them.

"It's all right. We'll both be along in a few minutes." She said. When Naruto and the others had left the room, Koharu replaced her seal and then looked at Sasuke. "What is it?"

"The other day, you asked me if I sensed any killing intent from Itachi on that night." Sasuke started, "I deflected the question, but I'm guessing you saw right through that. Now that I've learned more about you, I wanted to ask: you know something about that night that I don't, don't you?"

"What makes you say that?" Koharu asked. She was only asking because she was curious about how he had arrived at that conclusion.

"When I think about it, no. I didn't sense any killing intent." Sasuke said, "Originally, I thought it was because of what he said at the time about sparing my life, because I was somebody who could surpass him. But thinking back, at that time... I tried to attack him. Overpowering me would've been easy, but instead, he only ran. Plus, I've since learned that killing intent doesn't have to be directed at somebody for them to sense it. That said, I couldn't sense any from Itachi at all. Plus, on that day, Naruto and I were _both_ asked to stay after school for an extra shuriken lesson. I never thought much of it, because we weren't the only two, but when I think about it, it can't be a coincidence that we were both asked to stay late and we both lost our families. Somebody was trying to keep us out of the way. Meaning that somebody with more authority than Itachi had was involved. And you've hinted to me already that the truth isn't what I've always thought it was."

Koharu nodded to him, "You're right. However, what you just said; that somebody with more authority is involved, is exactly the reason why I can't just tell you the truth outright. The truth about that night is a very dangerous thing, Sasuke-san. Thus far, I've been able to return to the village for these exams only because being registered with another village affords me a certain level of protection. I think you have a right to know, but I'm also aware that that knowledge could cost you your life. If you want to know the truth of what happened, you will have to find it for yourself. In order to survive even looking for it, you'll need to become much, much stronger than you are. Otherwise... who knows what kind of 'accidents' might occur while you're on a mission?"

Sasuke's eyes widened before they narrowed in understanding and he nodded. Koharu removed her seal and watched as the Uchiha boy walked out the door before following him.

_'Sensei, forgive me. I know you don't want your brother to find out the truth, but you told me to follow the path that I believe in. In my heart, I believe that nothing can be resolved by constantly lying to yourself and to the ones you love.'_

病

A short while later, the eight teams that had finished the exam were all lined up in front of the Hokage within the arena of the tower.

"Sasuke-kun's team made it!" Ino exclaimed with hushed excitement. Shikamaru ignored her, totally annoyed by how many other teams had succeeded, while Chouji just felt hungry, and Koharu sighed.

"Chouji-san, if you're hungry, then eat one of the food pills that I gave you." She remarked while reaching up to tighten her headband as she observed the other contestants. Tenten was admiring Kakashi, Lee was lost in his admiration of Guy, and Neji was analyzing the remaining competition. From the team of Oto-nin, she could tell that Zaku was out for revenge on Sasuke. She sensed a slight flare in Orochimaru's chakra, followed by a flare in Kabuto's, and narrowed her eyes. The older medic was standing directly beside her, so she spoke quietly to him. "If you drop out of The Exam now, I will expose you in front of everyone, Yakushi Kabuto. You _and _your teammates."

"Oh?" Kabuto asked with interest, "You aren't concerned that I would return the favor?"

"It's never been a secret among the higher-ups as to who exactly took me away from Konoha. It's not even a secret from Team 7. So no, I'm not." She replied, "I want the chance to pay you back for that fight three years ago. If you end up with any other opponent besides me, _then_ you can drop out."

"Oh... interesting." Kabuto remarked, "Very well. I will indulge you then, Koharu-chan."

Koharu resisted the urge to groan and noticed Kurenai reacting with slight alarm to Akamaru's frightened behavior. The small dog was hiding in Kiba's jacket in response to being so close to Gaara. Temari was marveling at how few teams were left after the second round, while Sakura was shocked at how many teams from Konoha there were.

"Hey! Check it out!" Naruto whispered loudly, "Hokage-ojiichan, Iruka-Sensei, Kakashi-Sensei, and even Bushier Brows-Sensei are all gathered together! It's like a dream team!"

"Hmm..." Sasuke mused, "I've got a bad feeling about this." He subconsciously reached up and touched the place on his neck where the juuin had been.

"You only just _now_ have a bad feeling?!" Koharu whispered, "After everything we've discussed?! I've had a bad feeling since arriving in Konoha!"

"Now Lord Hokage himself will explain about the third exam!" Anko announced, "Listen up and take every word he says to heart! They're all yours, my lord."

"Very well." Hiruzen breathed out before beginning his speech. "The third examination is about to commence... but before I go into the specifics of how it will be conducted... ...Let me make one thing perfectly clear! It pertains to the underlying purpose of the exam." He lowered his hat over his eyes, "Why do you suppose an examination of this nature is being jointly conducted by all of the nations in our mutual alliance?!" Being that it was obviously a rhetorical question, Koharu didn't bother to answer. "'To promote friendship among allied nations and raise the level and standards in the art of the shinobi.'" Hiruzen quoted, "Be very clear about what those fine-sounding phrases actually mean! This so-called series of examinations is, in fact..." He sighed, blowing out some of the smoke from his pipe as he did so. "...A war-in-miniature between all of our allied nations."

"Wh-What do you mean...?" Tenten asked in shock.

"If you were to study our recent history—and consult a map—It would swiftly become apparent that our alliance is, in fact... ...a temporary and mutually beneficial agreement between a group of geographically contiguous lands..." The Hokage explained. "...Whose existence was one of continual strife... constantly jockeying against one another, openly and in secret, for power and the control of resources that were perpetually depleted, almost to exhaustion in the struggle... Until a better way was devised... the way of the Chuunin Ninja Selection Exam!"

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!" Naruto exclaimed, "I thought the point was to select Chuunin!" Koharu just sighed.

"Make no mistake." Hiruzen replied, "When this exam is done, it will have had the side effect... of winnowing out any applicants unfit to ascend to the level of Chuunin. But even more importantly... ...It serves as an arena, wherein, for the honor of their respective homelands... young shinobi may fight... to the death, if need be!"

"The honor of their lands...?!" Ino exclaimed in shock.

"This third examination will be conducted under the watchful eyes of a number of distinguished guests..." The Third continued. "...Including the rulers and nobility of the various lands you all aspire to serve. And among their number will be those who rule over each country's own Hidden Ninja Villages. They will be watching you. If any one nation's applicants demonstrate outstanding skill and superiority... ...The noblemen in every land will be quick to commission work from those trained in that superior nation. Conversely, if a particular country's applicants are shown to be incompetent or feeble... commissions to agents of that country will dwindle. And when one land is strong in battle... ...and the village coffers overflow with the fruits of the many outside commissions, this begets... ...then that village may say to its neighbors, 'Beware, for we posses prowess and riches and the influence of political power.'"

**"So?!"** Kiba demanded, "Why is it necessary to stake our lives and fight...?!"

"The strength of a country is derived from the strength of its village..." Hiruzen explained, "...And the village draws strength from the shinobi who live there... ...and the greatest strength of those shinobi... only emerges in the midst of a desperate life-and-death battle! These exams provide a public arena for each country to show off and boast of the strength of its warriors... ...and hence, the strength of the country itself! This test has meaning and great consequence. As you struggle for the sake of your very lives and your people, you help to fulfill the dream that was envisioned by our ancestors."

"But... ...you've always emphasized the concept of 'friendship'... Why...?!" Tenten asked in confusion.

"Though my meaning is subtle, I choose my words with care." The Hokage told her, "To preserve the balance of power at the risk of lives... ...Is the essence of friendship in the world of shinobi! Let me reiterate before the third exam begins... you are taking no ordinary test! You risk not only your own futures and your dreams... But the dignity and prestige of your home village as well!"

"Now I get it!" Naruto exclaimed before looking over at his sister. "Neechan, did you know about all of this?"

"Of course I did." Koharu replied, "I hinted all of this to you guys right before the first exam. When you get right down to it, shinobi are soldiers. Whether we belong to a village or are working as mercenaries, we earn our living by accepting payment to do everything from dog-walking to assassinations. Besides, this is the whole reason why my team is here. In the past, Amegakure has often become ensnared in the wars of other nations and ended up as roadkill. The three of us were sent here with a single directive: to display the true strength that exists Hidden in the Rain!" _'Of course,' _She thought to herself, _'That's not counting the mission given to me by the Akatsuki, nor my part in assisting Sensei with his mission as a spy.'_

"...Whatever." Gaara interrupted, "Could you wrap up the philosophical talk and get down to the life-and-death stuff anytime soon?" Both Kabuto's Team and the team from the Sound subtly inched away from the boy at that remark.

"Hmph!" The Hokage sniffed, "So, you insist I explain the third exam? Well... the truth is..."

Suddenly, another shinobi appeared before Hiruzen.

"...Forgive my interruption, Lord Hokage, but... If you don't mind handing the rest of the proceedings over... ...To me, Gekko Hayate, proctor of the third exam."

"Go ahead." Hiruzen told him.

The shinobi stood up and faced the group of genin. "Good to meet you, everyone... I'm Hayate." He coughed, "Uhh... Before we start the exam..." He coughed again, "...I must ask you to do something for me... Umm... You see... there are some preliminaries to the exam proper... and whether you proceed to the main exam is contingent upon how well you manage those."

"Preliminaries...?" Shikamaru questioned, "Like what?!"

"Hayate-Sensei..." Sakura began, "Koharu mentioned something about this earlier, but... I don't understand what you mean by preliminaries. Why can't all of the remaining applicants just proceed directly to the next exam?"

"Well... I don't want to say that the first two exams weren't demanding enough... But... the truth is..." Hayate coughed again, "...We still have too many applicants. Under the traditional rules of the exam, we have to have a preliminary test... to reduce the number of applicants who will proceed to the third exam."

"B-But..." Sakura began.

"As Lord Hokage mentioned, a number of honored guests will be observing you in the third exam... So we must make the exam intense, tight, and fast-moving."

"People who aren't shinobi don't have the patience to sit through 24 battles." Chino explained.

"Exactly." Hayate said with a nod. "Hmm... so anyway... now that you know something of what it's really all about... ...anyone who doesn't feel up to the challenge, either physically or mentally, can walk away. Just take one step forward..." He coughed again, "Because the preliminaries start... right now!"

"**Now?!"** Kiba exclaimed in alarm.

Kabuto exchanged a glance with Orochimaru, but when the Sannin smirked expectantly, the medic shook his head before jerking in Koharu's direction, indicating that he couldn't withdraw just yet because of the blue-haired girl beside him.

"Uhhh... in case I forgot to mention it... from here on out, you fight as individuals..." Hayate said before coughing again. "...Not as _members_ of teams. So you can make the decision that's right for you without worrying about anyone else. So... anyone want out? Show of hands...?" When nobody responded after a few minutes, he said, "Well it looks like nobody is bailing out this time around. Well then, we will now begin the preliminaries, which consist of individual combat matches, as though this were part of a tournament. As there are a total of 24 combatants remaining, we will hold a total of 12 bouts. Umm... and the victors of those bouts will advance to the third exam. This is no-holds-barred combat. Each pair of combatants will fight until one of them is dead or unconscious... ...or admits defeat." He coughed yet again, "As soon as you sense that your opponent is overpowering you, immediately concede your loss... if you value your life." He coughed once more, "Uhh... since we don't want a total bloodbath on our hands, there may be cases... ...where we ascertain that there is an undisputed winner and step in to end the match. But don't count on that. From here on out, the key to your fate is held in..." At that moment, a panel in the upper part of the wall behind him slid up to reveal a screen, "...This electronic scoreboard. At the start of every round, we will display the names of the two combatants competing in that match..." Another cough, "So, umm... not to hurry you all to the slaughter... but let's begin. We will now announce the first two names."

* * *

Aaannnnndd I'm gonna stop here because the third round preliminaries will probably be at least two chapters on their own. Nobody wants to spend two hours reading that all at once. XD


	18. The First Preliminary Matches

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akadou Yoroi.

That was the the first pair of names that appeared on the electronic board. Sasuke smirked and Yoroi, who was one of Kabuto's teammates, couldn't have been happier.

"Sasuke-san..." Koharu said quietly. "Remember what I told you earlier." Sasuke nodded subtly in her direction to say he understood.

"Will the individuals whose names are on the board come forward now...?" Hayate called. Both genin stepped forward. It looked rather strange, as Sasuke was roughly half Yoroi's age. "Akadou Yoroi, Uchiha Sasuke, you two have been selected to compete in the first bout. Any objections?" The proctor asked.

"None..." Yoroi replied.

"I'm good..." Sasuke agreed.

Yoroi looked vaguely confused, as if he couldn't understand why Sasuke didn't look more uncomfortable, and Koharu smirked to herself.

"Uhhhh... It's time for the first round to commence... all right?" Hayate asked. "Everyone other than the two combatants should move to the upper gallery now."

Without even having to say it, Fuushin lifted Koharu onto his back and carried her up the stairs. At that moment, Naruto called over to his teacher, "Hey! Kakashi-sensei!"

"Come to think of it, where's your team's instructor, Koharu?" Sakura asked.

"Psh! Who knows?" Koharu said, "He leaves us on our own a lot. Don't get me wrong, he knows we passed the second exam. But he's probably doing his own thing or blending in somewhere. He does that a lot. Well, Chino-neechan and Fuushin-niichan are several years older than you and I, so it's not that big a deal if our instructor isn't around."

Fuushin set Koharu down, guiding her over to the guard rail as everyone prepared to watch.

"What a pity that Sasuke-kun got Yoroi for an opponent. That's not a good match up for him." Kabuto remarked to the blue-haired girl.

"Hm! Don't be too certain!" Koharu replied, "Or do I need to remind you of whom he shares _blood_ with?"

"Well then, begin." Hayate told two combatants.

"Let's go!" Yoroi exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Sasuke agreed. He immediately pulled out a kunai while Yoroi's hand began to glow and he threw three shuriken at Sasuke with the other, but the preteen deflected them with ease, sending them flying back at Yoroi. However, a wave of pain surged through him and he fell to the ground.

"Tch. I should've warned him to avoid straining his left trapezius." Koharu muttered.

"What do you mean, Koharu-chan?" Sakura asked.

"He's still sore from what happened the other day in the forest." She answered. "His left trapezius, that is, the muscle that connects the vertebrae in the neck to the humoral joint in the shoulder, was the point of origin. Sasuke-san is ambidextrous, but with a left-handed dominance. He's prone to backing up the actions of his right side with the muscles in his left."

"The what that connects his what to his what now?" Kiba asked in confusion and Koharu sighed.

"In layman's terms, the base of his neck hurts on the left side." She said bluntly before rubbing her temples. "I should've done a bit of work on his chakra network in that area after we reached this tower..."

Sasuke groaned as he tried to get up before quickly rolling to the side to avoid Yoroi's fist. He shoved the end of his kunai into the floor as an anchor point and swung himself around, tripping Yoroi with his feet and then pinning the older shinobi down by crossing one leg over his neck and the other over his arm while simultaneously grabbing the arm and pulling it taut to restrain him.

"His taijutsu is similar..." Koharu said softly, her mind going back to techniques that Itachi had taught to her.

To everyone's surprise, Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's shirt and his hand began glowing again. Sasuke's grip loosened and Yoroi pulled his arm free, slamming his fist into Sasuke's solar plexus for good measure. In the next moment, he had Sasuke was pinned down, his hand gripping the preteen's head. Sasuke tried to pry it off, but felt his strength leaving him.

"You... my chakra..." He muttered.

Yoroi chuckled, "You just now noticed?"

"Tch. This is bad..." Koharu remarked.

"What's happening?" Sakura asked.

"Yoroi is syphoning Sasuke-san's chakra..." Koharu remarked. "Kakashi-san, if this keeps up, it's going to be a problem."

Kakashi nodded, "Watch his chakra levels for me. I'll step in if I have to, but I want to give him a chance first."

Koharu nodded in understanding.

"You jerk...!" Sasuke exclaimed as he managed to kick Yoroi off of him.

He struggled to sit up as Yoroi got back to his feet.

"Hmph. To think you still have strength left. Though you're just a guinea pig." The older shinobi remarked. Sasuke was breathing heavily from the drain he had endured. "Relax... I'll end this right away!" His hand glowed again and he charged at Sasuke as the boy shakily got to his feet. He tried to catch the younger shinobi in his grasp again, but Sasuke managed to dodge him despite his exhaustion. He grazed Sasuke's ear, and Sasuke stumbled.

"That guy is incredibly slow." Koharu remarked with a shake of her head. "If Sasuke-san wasn't so drained in a literal sense, he could dodge him easily, even without the Sharingan."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Yoroi taunted, "Are you already finished?!"

Sasuke yelled out in frustration as he tried to roundhouse the man, but Yoroi jumped out of the way. Sasuke panted and Koharu could practically see his mind working to figure out a strategy.

"Sasuke!" Naruto suddenly yelled "Are you really Uchiha Sasuke?! This is pathetic! Show us your best!"

Koharu smiled, "Naruto's right! You're an Uchiha for goodness sake's! If close combat isn't an option, then go for a ranged attack!"

Sasuke looked over at the two siblings, his gaze traveling past them and over to Lee, and Koharu could practically see the lightbulb going off in his head.

Yoroi's hand glowed and he rushed towards the boy, "You don't have time to look away!" He failed to notice the sharp look in Sasuke's eyes as the preteen turned toward him. "This is the end!"

He attacked Sasuke with more speed than before, but Sasuke swiftly dodged each attack.

The others watched anxiously, but Koharu just smirked, "He's finished."

Suddenly, Yoroi lost sight of Sasuke. "He disappeared?!" Lee gasped as he realized what was happening, and in that instant, Sasuke sent Yoroi flying into the air with a swift upkick. The same upkick that Lee used to initiate Omote Renge.

Suddenly Sasuke was flying directly beneath Yoroi, "From here on out, it's my own move." He put a hand to Yoroi's back and used it as leverage to spin in the air and kick him, though Yoroi blocked the move. "You're weak." He taunted.

"You're the one who's weak." Kakashi muttered.

Koharu grinned as she leaned her hand on her chin, "What an idiot..."

Sasuke spun around again, this time slamming his forearm into Yoroi's collarbone. In the next instant, he was above Yoroi instead. "I'm not done yet!" He exclaimed before driving Yoroi into the ground with his leg. "Shishi rendan!" Sasuke skidded across the ground and Hayate walked forward. He looked at the clearly unconscious Yoroi and at Sasuke, who was getting back up. "I'm stopping the match here." He declared. "The winner, Uchiha Sasuke, passes the preliminaries."

"All right!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke nearly fell backwards, but found himself supported by Kakashi's knee.

"Hey! Well done!" Kakashi told him.

"Hmph." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called before laughing playfully, "You won in such an uncool way! Look at you, all beat up! You idiot!"

"Ugh, dimwit..." Sasuke muttered under his breath. Despite that, he smiled, looking at Lee for a moment before wincing in pain.

As everyone mulled over what just happened in their minds, Koharu noticed Gaara tensing up and frowned. _'The Ichibi is starting to get agitated... he's thirsting for blood.'_

Suddenly Ino's voice broke through her thoughts. "Yeah! That's Sasuke-kun for you!" She swooned.

"W-Wow!" Hinata exclaimed.

Kiba scoffed, "Nothing special."

As Yoroi was carried out on a stretcher, a medic walked over to Sasuke. "Uchiha Sasuke. We'll also give you the best of treatment."

"You can leave that to me." Koharu said suddenly as she jumped down to the arena.

"Koharu?" Sasuke said in surprise.

"You are...?" The iryouninja began.

"Mayonaka Koharu. My father used to be a member of the Konoha medical corps." Koharu replied, "I sometimes came to work with him." She placed her hand on Sasuke's head, "Sorry, but I have no intention of letting either of my little brothers out of my sight for the time being."

"Brother...?" Sasuke said questioningly. Koharu smiled as she knelt down in front of him.

"You and Naruto have become like brothers. If you're his brother, then you're my brother too. Blood ties aren't the only kind of bond that bind families together."

"Um... if it's all right, we're going to go ahead and choose the combatants for the next match." Hayate said.

"Yeah, go ahead." Koharu said with a nod as she and Kakashi helped Sasuke to his feet.

Names flashed on the board randomly before suddenly stopping.

"Um, I don't think you're going to be able to treat me just yet." Sasuke remarked.

"Huh?" Koharu asked.

Sasuke pointed at the screen. "Looks like it's your turn."

"You realize that there's no point in pointing at something I can't see?" She said bluntly. "Who am I up against?"

"Yakushi Kabuto." Sasuke answered.

Koharu grinned. "Just what I was hoping for." She remarked, "I'll treat you afterward. For now, eat one of those food pills I gave you to replenish your chakra."

Sasuke nodded and Kabuto headed down to face Koharu.

"Well then, the next match of the preliminary rounds. Yakushi Kabuto of Konohagakure and Mayonaka Koharu of Amegakure." Hayate said when both genin were facing each other, "Well then, please begin."

The instant he said that, Koharu leapt back, putting a fair bit of distance between herself and Kabuto.

"What is she doing?" Neji asked.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked.

"Mayonaka Koharu is a taijutsu specialist, meaning she's strongest in close-range combat. So why is she putting so much distance between herself and her opponent?" Neji both explained and questioned.

"You underestimate her." Chino said, "It's true that Koharu-chan is best at fighting close range, but she's capable of fighting from any distance. That she's chosen to go for ranged combat is a measure of how dangerous her opponent is in close quarters."

"That guy? Dangerous?" Shikamaru asked before noticing something. "Hey wait, why are you and your teammate on opposite ends of the platform and against the wall?"

"Because Koharu asked us too." Fuushin said.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you were so determined to fight me, Koharu-chan." Kabuto remarked while pushing up his glasses, "Isn't it difficult for you to fight in an indoor space like this?"

"Don't patronize me, Kabuto." Koharu said in annoyance, "You think after thirteen years, I haven't learned how to deal with this? I don't need to see the walls to know where they are!" Without warning, she threw three shuriken at the older medic. Kabuto dodged them, but Koharu was already soaring in the air and preparing her next attack, an abnormally large shuriken in her hand. "Fuuma Shuriken!" She launched the shuriken with deadly accuracy, forcing Kabuto to leap back to avoid it, unaware of the signs she was weaving. "Suiton! Mizuame nabara!" The sticky fluid spewed from her mouth, covering the area of the floor that Kabuto would land on. The shinobi realized his mistake too late as his feet were instantly caught.

He looked up and his eyes widened in shock. "No way!"

Koharu was hanging upside down from the observation platform, using her chakra to adhere to the underside of it. She reached into her pouch and her holster. _'As much as I'd like to make more of a show of this, I can't afford to toy with him.' _She brought forth shuriken in both hands. "Take this! Raiton Shuriken!" The lighting charged shuriken landed in the goo at Kabuto's feet, the current discharging into the fluid and striking him. He groaned in pain, but then smirked up at Koharu.

"Is that it?" He asked. "I'm disappointed, Koharu-chan. Certainly, that was a well-laid trap, but you should know it will take more than that to—" Suddenly his eyes widened and he trembled before collapsing into the sticky fluid.

Koharu jumped down, landing about ten feet away. "You're too full of yourself." Suddenly, she yanked a wire that nobody had noticed and her Fuuma Shuriken came flying back towards her, earning a few stares as she caught it flawlessly. "Those lightning charged shuriken were only a distraction. While you were distracted by the momentary pain created by the electrical current, I struck you with a senbon, one coated in a very deadly paralysis poison that I obtained from a certain poisons specialist. Well, considering it's you, it might not actually kill you, but that doesn't mean _I _can't." She held her Fuuma shuriken out towards Kabuto. "Hayate-sensei, my opponent currently can't speak, let alone move. If you don't think you should declare this match to be over, that's fine, but know that my next attack will be meant to kill."

Hayate looked at Kabuto and nodded. "The match goes to Mayonaka Koharu of the Hidden Rain. She will proceed to the third round." He looked at Koharu as the medics came in. "Uh... you do have an antidote for that poison, don't you?"

"Antidote?" Koharu asked, "There is no antidote. At least, not one that I know of. I can't compound things like poisons and antidotes. It's one of those things that I can't do with the way my vision is. The only treatment I know of for that poison is the Saiken Chuushutsu no jutsu. That said, Yakushi Kabuto has an abnormally high resistance to poison. He might survive without treatment. I can tell you this much though, while it paralyzes the target almost instantly, that particular poison takes about three days before it actually kills them. I would suggest performing the extraction immediately."

The others stared in mute amazement—and a hint of terror—as Koharu jumped back up to the platform.

"Where the heck did you obtain such a potent poison?" Fuushin asked, seeming slightly disturbed.

"From an... acquaintance of Okaasan's." Koharu replied.

"How can you even handle a senbon coated in something like that?!" Chino exclaimed.

"As specialists who often encounter poisons, part of the training for an iryouninja is to be able to handle poisoned weapons without poisoning yourself. Some iryouninja can store poisoned senbon in their mouth and then spit them out at a target."

"Iryouninja are kind of scary..." Kiba remarked.

"Don't you think a poison that toxic might've been a little bit overkill though?" Kurenai asked as Koharu knelt next to Sasuke to treat his injuries.

"I didn't have much choice." Koharu replied, "Anything less than lethal might not have worked on him. Trust me. I know a lot more about him than you do."

"Still, that was amazing, Neechan!" Naruto exclaimed, "It's like you knew what he was going to do before he did it!"

"In a way, I did." Koharu replied, "I formulated a specific strategy for fighting that guy ahead of time. Well, you can't guarantee that an opponent will do what you plan for, and you certainly can't know what direction they'll dodge in, but I can make up for that with my Shinjitsugan. By reading fluctuations in his chakra pathways, I can predict what movements he's going to make and where he'll end up at, allowing me to act on that information while he's still in the middle of the action. It's similar to how the Sharingan can read the slightest flexations in the muscles. I obviously don't have the kinetic vision of the Sharingan, or any vision when it comes to projectiles and stuff, but I've done a lot of training to hone my speed, reaction time, and ability to predict movement."

"But, how did you learn to throw shuriken so accurately?" Tenten asked with interest.

"The same way that Sasuke managed to create that new combo technique on the spot." The young medic answered. "Well, that, and lots and lots of training." She looked at Sasuke as she pulled her hands away from his neck and shoulder. "Does that feel better?"

"Yeah, thanks." Sasuke said with a nod.

"Mm." Koharu said with a nod before she sat down next to Sasuke and leaned her back against the wall. "I'm tired. I've used up a lot of my chakra. I'm gonna take a little nap. Wake me when it's one of your or my teammates or Hinata-chan's or Ino-chan's turn."

Sasuke nodded, then blinked in surprise when she almost instantly passed out, her head falling onto his shoulder. Seeing the awkward expression on the preteen boy's face, Fuushin sat down on the other side of Koharu and gently moved her so she was leaning on him instead.

* * *

Kind of a short chapter, but the next one is long. I'm kind of glossing over the relatively unimportant fights in this part of the exams, but the important ones take up quite a bit of space, so I'm only able to cover like, two good fights per chapter.

Also, as a point of reference, although the curse Mark has been removed, Sasuke's shoulder is still sore from literally being bitten there and also from having the curse Mark extracted. Koharu is a bit vague when she references this fact because she doesn't want Kabuto to realize that Sasuke does not have the mark. Sasuke limits himself to taijutsu in the fight to avoid any chance of Orochimaru getting suspicious about why the curse Mark is not activating, although Orochimaru could just think that the mark has been suppressed like Anko's in the time since Team 7 entered the tower.

Also, because somebody got confused about this, Koharu is _not _operating under an alias. That would be pointless, since Naruto isn't so dense that he wouldn't recognize his own sister, and Koharu, having been born blind, is unable to use Henge. She doesn't have an alias, but what she does have is the amnesty granted to her by being an applicant of the Chuunin Exam who is registered with a different village. Danzō can't just quietly kill her off and hope that nobody notices, and even if he could, Fuushin and Chino are under strict orders to never leave her on her own when she is out in the open. Danzō currently thinks that his ally Hanzō of the Salamander is still running Amegakure, so he has a certain amount of incentive to not kill her off.


	19. Rivals

Koharu groaned in annoyance and opened her eyes just as the second match after she had sat down was completed.

"I thought you were taking a nap?" Sasuke asked.

"How could I when body parts are going flying and bones are getting crushed?" She asked in annoyance, "What kind of sensory ninja could possibly sleep through that?" She looked up in annoyance at Team 3 and Guy, "And seriously? How could you guys _not_ know about the kind of jutsu Shino-san uses? The Aburame are one of the noble clans of Konoha. They're not exactly low-key."

"Noble clans?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"You seriously haven't taught him about this?" She asked Sasuke before turning back to her brother, "There are four clans in Konoha that are believed to be the most powerful and are therefore known as the noble clans. They are the Hyuuga, the Aburame, the Akimichi, and the Uchiha. Really, it's kind of strange that the Rookie Nine contains a member from all four of these clans. That's not something you see very often from any graduating class of the Academy. At least from what I've been told." She sighed as she sat back, "The Hyuuga and the Uchiha are both famous for their powerful visual prowess, while the Aburame and Akimichi are known for their powerful Hiden techniques."

"Neechan, how do you know all of this?" Naruto asked.

"Um, for one thing, the fact that we've been friends with Hinata-chan since we were toddlers?" She pointed out bluntly, "Besides, since Papa and I were the only other members of the village to have a visual prowess, we had a fair amount of contact with both clans. In particular, Papa was the preferred medic of the Uchiha and Hyuuga because he was skilled at treating ailments of the eyes. Well, that, and the fact that the Mayonaka descended from the Hyuuga and our visual prowess is related to theirs." She blinked as she turned her head toward Naruto, who was gazing at her in amazement. "Why am I bothering to tell you this? You're just going to forget. Again. Because I've explained this before. But you've never done well with things that involve lots of words."

"Give me a break, Neechan." Naruto said with a sweat-drop. He and everyone else turned as the board sounded to announce the next match.

Yamanaka Ino vs Haruno Sakura. Both girls were shocked to say the least. Koharu sighed as she watched them head downstairs. "Well this will either be really interesting or really boring..." She muttered.

"So, Sakura..." Ino said after the two had faced each other for a moment, "It's you and me... ...going head to head. I never saw it coming."

"The statistical likelihood increased with each passing match." Koharu muttered, watching as Sakura reached up and removed her Konoha headband.

"Wh-what the?!" Naruto exclaimed in confusion.

"Of all the people for Ino to go up against, it would have to be Sakura! How troublesome!" Shikamaru complained.

"Do you think Ino will be all right?" Chouji worried.

"Aren't they always going at each other's throats anyway?" Sasuke asked Koharu.

"They bicker a lot, but they never mean any harm." She told him, "Generally speaking, girls don't get into fights for kicks like guys tend to. And they're much less likely to actually come to blows, even when they quarrel."

"Understand this... I'm never letting you anywhere near Sasuke-kun." Sakura said to Ino.

"What?!"Ino exclaimed.

"You're not even his type." Sakura told her, "And I'm not the weak, needy little girl I used to be. You're not even on my radar now."

"Sakura... I think you've forgotten who you're talking to." Ino told her rival, "Don't cop an attitude with me, you little crybaby."

"Aw, man!" Naruto exclaimed, "Sakura just crossed the line. That Ino chick scares me silly!"

"Why are they even arguing about this now?" Sasuke asked in annoyance.

"Sakura-chan knows what she's doing, but I'll explain it to you later." Koharu told him.

"What are they getting so intense about?!" Naruto asked in confusion.

Koharu snorted, "Please. Like you don't pick fights with Sasuke almost daily. I'm amazed your apartment building hasn't blown up yet."

"Living with him is a chore within itself." Sasuke told her.

"Well, Naruto..." Kakashi interrupted, "Rivalry is a tricky business... not that I would know."

"Hunh?" Guy said, only half-catching Kakashi's statement.

Suddenly Ino also removed her headband from around her waist, and both girls tied them to their foreheads properly before charging at each other. Sakura wove a few signs and produced a few bunshin.

"This isn't an Academy Graduation Exam, you know." Ino told her, "You can't beat me with classic, textbook moves."

Sakura smirked and then suddenly flew into the air before appearing in front of Ino and punching her. "I may have been a crybaby back in the day... but who's crying now? Come on, Ino... Stop holding back. I know you can do better than this!"

"If that's the way you want it, fine by me!" Ino said as she wiped her mouth, "The gloves are off!"

"Look at Sakura-chan go! She's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed.

"She should be after that training Chino-neechan put her through last week." Koharu remarked.

"Sakura is a solid contender." Kakashi agreed, "Her mastery of the fundamental techniques for the utilization of chakra is definitely the best among the rookies."

"Even better than me?" Naruto asked.

"Uh... yeah." Kakashi said bluntly.

"Naruto, please, your chakra control stinks." Koharu told him. "It pretty much always has."

"Gee, thanks." Naruto said in annoyance.

"Hey, just be glad that I corrected what Orochimaru did to you in the forest, or it would be even harder for you to control." She told him, "He seriously messed with your chakra flow. Poor Sakura would've been totally on her own if my teammates and I hadn't been there to help her."

"At any rate..." Kakashi interrupted, "The technical art of circulating chakra to every nook and cranny of the body and deploying it with precise timing... ...Is an area in which Sakura has even surpassed Sasuke. From the beginning, her master of chakra manipulation... ... has been superb."

"Um, duh." Koharu told him, "I could've told you that when they were in their first year of the Academy, Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura and Ino were matching each other blow for blow, in a rather literal sense, both launching the exact same moves at the exact same time. About ten minutes into the fight, both girls were knocked to the floor by each other.

"Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed, but Koharu just sighed.

"Yep. This is really boring."

"You can't be my equal! It's unthinkable!" Ino exclaimed in frustration.

"Hmph..." Sakura said with contempt, "You're right. The magnitude of your obsession with your long, flowing hair and superficial appearances is peerless... I'm just no match for you."

"She wasn't exactly someone to talk until three days ago..." Koharu muttered.

"Making fun of me?!" Ino exclaimed, "You've gone too far!"

"Ino's an idiot, letting Sakura's words get to her like that!" Shikamaru exclaimed, "She's falling right into Sakura's trap."

"I don't like seeing Ino this way!" Chouji whimpered.

"Would you two relax?" Koharu said, "I think Sakura-chan is actually the one who's in trouble this time."

To the surprise of everyone—except Koharu—Ino reached back and slashed off the length of her ponytail.

"Ha, ha... you fool!" Sakura remarked.

"Watch your step, Sakura-chan..." Koharu mumbled.

"This is nothing!" Ino exclaimed as she threw her hair to the ground.

"Sh-she's scary..." Naruto mumbled.

"This ends now." Ino stated as she formed a seal with her hands, "I'm gonna make your lips say, 'I give up'!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened in alarm, "Don't tell me... she couldn't mean..."

"She's thinking about it..." Chouji confirmed.

"She's long past thinking about it." Koharu told them.

Ino essentially formed a crosshairs with her hands and aimed at Sakura.

"Just as I thought..." Shikamaru muttered, "It's her signature Shintenshin no jutsu!"

"That idiot!" Exclaimed Asuma. Koharu sighed again.

"I understand your impatience, but... ...You're wasting your time!" Sakura told Ino.

"Hmph!" Ino exclaimed, "We'll see about that!"

"I see what you're planning..." Sakura said, "Shintenshin no jutsu, where all of your mental energy is projected, and you take control of your opponent's mind, leaving her helpless while you control her body. But that formidable art has a few inherent flaws. First of all... ...That bolt of mental energy can only move along a direct path... ...and it moves very slowly. Secondly, even if the packet of mental energy should miss its target... ...It is still unable to return to the attacker's body for several minutes... And during that time, your own body remains limp, helpless... vulnerable as a rag doll."

"I really don't think you need to school Ino-chan on the weakness of her own Hiden jutsu." Koharu muttered.

"What of it?!" Ino exclaimed, "No one knows what will happen here until I give it a try!" Koharu sighed again.

"You'll only get one chance. If you miss, it's over. You know it as well as I do." Sakura remarked.

"No, you fool!" Shikamaru exclaimed as Sakura moved to dodge the technique.

"Ninpou! Shintenshin no jutsu!"

Suddenly Ino and Sakura both slumped over.

"...Who's who?" Shikamaru asked nervously.

"Heh..." Came Sakura's voice, "You lose... ...Ino!"

"I guess it's all over now..." Shikamaru lamented.

"I can't believe she actually tried it!" Chouji exclaimed.

"I can't believe how unobservant you two are." Koharu remarked.

"Guess you're done... Huh?!" Sakura exclaimed when she realized that she couldn't move her feet, "Th-This is...!"

"Gotcha, Sakura!" Ino exclaimed. She was kneeling on the ground, her hands planted firmly and a smirk on her face. "Heh, I set a trap, and you fell for it!"

Sakura's eyes widened, "You don't mean—!"

"Yep. The hand signs I made earlier were just a distraction... to keep you from seeing the real trap." Ino told her, "You zigged, you zagged... and you fell right into it! Can't move at all, can you? I made a living rope by running chakra through my own cut hair."

"Ah...!" Sakura exclaimed in alarm.

Ino stood up, "And now that I've got you where I want you... ...I can take up occupancy... and make you surrender!" She aimed at Sakura with her hands again, "I think the odds are 100% I'm gonna hit my target, don't you?"

"Looks like it!" Kakashi exclaimed.

"That nut..." Shikamaru groaned, "Making herself look like a loser so she could win!"

"You don't have very much faith in your teammate, do you?" Koharu remarked. "Besides, deflecting your opponent's attention from the actual truth is the essence of a Shinobi, especially in combat. I mean, when you think about it, that's literally all that genjutsu is, and it's powerful enough to be deadly entirely on its own! A skilled enough caster can easily kill their enemy without ever using ninjutsu or taijutsu."

"And so..." Ino began, ignorant of the discussion above, "Shintenshin no jutsu!" The blonde slumped over, and Sakura's head lifted. "Heh, too bad... Sakura!" Although it was Sakura's body, it was clearly Ino speaking.

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed in shock.

"Sakura-san..." Lee said with worry.

"She underestimated her opponent..." Sasuke said.

"That's certainly true..." Koharu began, "Huh?"

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"What? What just happened to Ino?" Naruto asked, "And... And... What's gotten into Sakura-chan to make her act so weird?! Doesn't she see...? This is her chance?! Get her, Sakura-chan! Go!"

"Have you been listening to _anything _that's been said in the last five minutes?" Fuushin asked in blunt astonishment.

"The mental energy from the Mind-Transfer Technique struck her head-on. She's finished!" Kakashi said just as bluntly.

"Mind-Transfer?" Lee asked in confusion. "Then... Sakura-san's not even..."

"You're as dense as Naruto-chan..." Chino muttered.

"Exactly." Kakashi said to both boys, "Sakura's psyche has been overtaken and supplanted by that of Ino. Right now, Ino is inside Sakura. So... ...her goal is probably to..."

Naruto gulped.

"No. Something's not right." Koharu said suddenly.

"Huh?" Came several confused voices as everyone looked at the Mayonaka girl.

"I've seen Shintenshin in action any number of times, including a few days ago during the Written Exam." Koharu explained, "Usually, the victim's mental energy is suppressed almost to the point of being absent. That's not the case this time. Sakura-chan's mental energy is still active, albeit, it's weaker than normal."

At that, Naruto narrowed his eyes and turned back just as Ino began speaking. "I, Haruno Sakura... Wish to withdraw... from this match..."

"Don't do it!" Naruto exclaimed, "Come on, Sakura-chan! You've come so far...! If you let yourself lose now to that crazy Sasuke-chaser... You'll be a disgrace to all women!"

"He knows that Sakura can't hear him, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't be too sure." Koharu said with a smirk.

"Huh?" Sasuke asked, watching as the girl stood up and gestured for him to do the same.

"Take a look." Koharu said as she pointed to where Sakura was sitting on the ground, trembling and clutching her head. "Sakura-chan's mental energy has gotten much stronger!"

"What's wrong?" Hayate asked, "Are you withdrawing from the match?"

"Are you kidding me?! I'm staying in!" Sakura suddenly exclaimed.

"What's going on?!" Shikamaru exclaimed, "What's up with Ino?!"

"I told you, Sakura-chan's mental energy is much stronger than normal." Koharu told him. _'Actually, it's almost like she has a second mind! This peculiarity in her chakra reminds me of... Naruto and Sasuke's? Yes, it's the same trait. But why? Sensei never mentioned a third-party in the legend of the Uchiha...'_

Suddenly Sakura formed the seal to release the jutsu, and Ino was back in her own body.

"There were two different psyches inside you before I got there!" Ino exclaimed in shock, "What... what on earth are you?!"

"Heh... don't you know?" Sakura asked, "Even the sweetest girl needs a hard center, or she's not gonna make it out there!"

Koharu's eyes widened, "She's actually aware of it...?"

Sakura and Ino both charged at each other and tried to punch each other. However, it was only a feint on Sakura's part. Rather than matching Ino's blow yet again, she instead dodged and countered by grabbing the other girl's arm, flipping her over shoulder and restraining her. However, Ino was pretty much knocked out by the impact of hitting the ground.

"Heh, nice to know all that training we put her through was worth it!" Koharu remarked.

"Yamanaka Ino has lost consciousness. Therefore, the winner is Haruno Sakura!" Hayate declared.

"Shannaro!" Sakura exclaimed happily... before promptly passing out herself.

"I think she ran out of steam..." Koharu remarked as Kakashi and Asuma both moved down to retrieve the girls.

"Hey, Ino!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

"Are you all right, Sakura-chan?!" Naruto yelled.

"Shh..." Kakashi told them.

"Neither one is hurt badly enough to need treatment from the medical corps..." Asuma began as he stood up, "They should both regain consciousness within the next half-hour. But... I'm impressed by both of them."

"Yeah." Kakashi agreed, "Naruto and Sasuke were both doing well... and now, even fragile little Sakura... Has shown amazing growth."

"Heh, you should've seen her in the forest." Koharu remarked.

Kakashi nodded to her before looking back at Naruto and Sasuke, "I know you've all been through a lot, but... I'm glad I enrolled you all in the Chuunin Exam. I mean that from the bottom of my heart!"

病

The next match was Temari of the Hidden Sand versus Tenten from Team Three. About the time that Sakura and Ino came to, it was already over.

"The winner of the fifth round match... is Temari!" Hayate announced.

Suddenly Temari sneered and flung the unconscious Tenten across the room, although she was caught by Lee.

"Nice catch!" Temari remarked with a wicked grin.

"What's wrong with you?!" Lee demanded, "That's not how you treat a worthy opponent... especially one you've just defeated!"

"Oh shut up!" Temari replied, "Get yourself and that loser out of my way!"

Lee growled in irritation.

"No, Lee—!" Neji called.

"Konoha Senpuu!" To everyone's surprise, Lee's attack was easily blocked by Temari's fan.

"Hah! Just as I thought!" Temari said, "You're not so fast after all."

"What...?!" Lee asked.

"That's enough, Lee!" Guy said as he jumped down.

"Guy-sensei..." Lee practically whimpered, looking like a puppy who'd been scolded.

"Temari... Get back up here!" Gaara called, "You've already been declared the winner... How long do you plan to trifle with that homely Prince Charming?"

"What...?!" Lee exclaimed again.

"Had enough now, Lee?" Guy asked, but upon noticing his trembling fists, he sighed and placed a hand on his student's shoulder, "My dear friends from the Sand... If you don't mind, I'd like to offer a word of advice... Be prepared. You have no idea... ...How strong this boy really is."

"He actually picked a fight with those freaks from the Sand..." Kiba exclaimed, "In his place, I'd have run for cover!"

"Th-They really creep me out!" Hinata agreed.

"Rightfully so." Koharu told her, "He's way too hot-blooded for his own good!" She jumped down into the arena. "Guy-sensei, let me treat Tenten-san. She's been knocked around a bit, but she should have a chance to see her teammates' matches.

"Yeah." Guy said, helping to bring Tenten to the upper level.

Tenten groaned and opened her eyes after a few moments, looking at Koharu.

"Welcome back, Tenten-san." The young medic said.

The other kunoichi sighed, "I lost, didn't I?"

"Don't let it bother you." Koharu said, "Sometimes you just wind up with an opponent whose abilities make you unsuited to fight them. Quite frankly, if I had been your opponent, I think you would've won."

"Huh?" Tenten said in confusion, "But your victory against that Kabuto guy was flawless."

"I've faced Kabuto in the past and knew his abilities, so I had a strategy ahead of time. But the fact of the matter is, my blindness does leave me with limitations that normal Shinobi don't have." Koharu told her, "I've been trained to defend against ninja tools by watching my opponent's body movements, but since you summon things from a scroll, I would be at a severe disadvantage. Sure, I could use Fuuton like she did to a point, but Fuuton is much more chakra-intensive than your summoning scrolls. Given the strain on my chakra that the Shinjitsugan already causes, I'd probably hit my limit before I could defeat you."

"Ehh..." Tenten said in surprise.

病

Shikamaru was the next to fight, facing off against Kin, the kunoichi from the Hidden Sound, but their battle was over almost as quickly as Koharu's battle against Kabuto had been. Like Koharu, Shikamaru had deftly outsmarted his opponent and trapped her before swiftly knocking her out.

"Nicely done." Koharu said, "You can adapt to things pretty instantaneously, can't you?"

"You're one to talk." Shikamaru replied, "Your opponent never even got close to hitting you."

"I had prior battle experience against him." She said bluntly, "You didn't have that advantage." She looked up as the board rang. "Who's up now?"

"It looks like your teammates are facing each other." Sasuke told her.

"Huh?" Koharu said in confusion, her attention immediately focused on Chino and Fuushin as they both faced each other in the arena.

"The next match is Chino versus Fuushin. You can both start now." Hayate said.

To everyone's surprise, Chino only looked at Fuushin for a moment before she put her arms behind her head with a whine, "This reminds me too much of the Coliseum. I can't get into this. Fuushin, I'm going to let you have this one."

"Huh?!" Everyone said in confusion, aside from Fuushin and Koharu.

Chino ignored the onlookers and turned to Hayate, "Sensei, I'm withdrawing from the match."

"Uhh... okay..." Hayate replied, seeming slightly flummoxed, "In that case, Fuushin moves on to the Third Exam."

"What was that all about?" Sasuke asked before looking at Koharu, "What's the Coliseum?"

"It was an illegal gambling venue where the wealthy would pit enslaved shinobi against each other." Koharu explained, "Many of the combatants had Kekkei Genkai and had been enslaved since they were very young. That includes Chino-neechan and Fuushin-niichan. The man they were enslaved by was a collector of Kekkei Genkai." She turned toward Sasuke, "You're extremely lucky. Because you live here in Konoha, he never attempted to target you, but if you'd been living out in the sticks like Fuushin-niichan used to, or unable to put down roots like me, he would've loved to get ahold of you. The more rare the ability, the more it interested him. That was why he targeted me in one of the rare moments when I had been left on my own for a while."

"Neechan, why did Chino-Neechan just give up without even trying?" Naruto asked.

"That's not it." Fuushin said as he walked up behind Naruto. "If Chino wanted to, she could beat me easily. She's done it before."

"He's right." Koharu said, "In truth, Chino-neechan didn't want to openly display her abilities in front of so many people, so she just let Fuushin-niichan take the win."

"Huh?" Naruto said, obviously further confused.

"Well then," Hayate began, "The next match is..." He looked at the board as it rang.

"It's here! It's here, it's here, it's here, it's here!" Naruto exclaimed, obviously forgetting about his confusion regarding Chino. "What I've been waiting for! It's finally my turn!"

"I don't know how you can get so excited about beating somebody up." Koharu remarked.

"Yeah, lucky!" Kiba exclaimed, "If it's that guy, we'll absolutely win, Akamaru!" Akamaru yipped in agreement.

Koharu snorted, "Please... I'd like to see you two rescue yourselves from the belly of a 50 meter snake."

"Naruto did what now?" Sasuke asked in shock.

"Hey! He's actually pretty smart you know! He's just not good with words." Koharu replied.

Naruto, not paying attention to either of them, clenched his fist, "I'll do it-ttebayo!"

"The ninth battle." Hayate announced quietly once the two boys were facing each other, "Naruto Uzumaki versus Inuzuka Kiba."

"I got sick of waiting!" Naruto exclaimed. "It's finally time for me to shine-ttebayo!"

Kiba suddenly looked annoyed, "That's my line! With you as my opponent, I've as good as won! Right, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Presumptuous, isn't he?" Koharu remarked in annoyance, "And what's sad is his dog is just as bad..."

Now Naruto was just as annoyed, "Don't get excited-ttebayo! You won't be able to be able to beat me, dattebayo!"

"Why you little...!"

"Oh just get on with it already!" Koharu yelled at them. Kiba responded by taking Akamaru out of his jacket and setting him on the ground.

"Hey! Don't bring your puppy!" Naruto exclaimed. "He'll get in the way during the match!"

"You idiot!" Kiba replied, "Akamaru's going to fight with me."

"Hey, hey! Is that okay?" Naruto asked Hayate.

"Yes." The proctor replied, "Animals and insects are treated the same as ninja tools. There's no problem."

Naruto seemed momentarily stunned, but he quickly recovered, "Well, that's fine! It's a perfect handicap!"

"Why does he bother speaking when he has no idea what's going on...?" His sister muttered.

"Talking tough!" Kiba exclaimed, "Then..." He stood up and looked at his dog, "Akamaru, don't put a paw in this. It'll be just me."

Akamaru whined at Kiba and Koharu pinched the bridge of her nose, "They're both idiots..."

"Naruto! Don't lose to a guy like this!" Sakura exclaimed, not even noticing Koharu's muttering.

"Naruto! You'd better take this seriously or I'm going to make you do Taijutsu drills with me for a week!" The blue-haired girl yelled.

At that, Naruto visibly shivered.

"Kiba's lucky, huh?" Chouji remarked.

"Tch..." Shikamaru said.

"Some sympathy at the very least..." Kiba told Naruto, "I'll do you in, in one clean blow!"

"That moron... He hasn't done any research at all, has he?" Koharu muttered while resting her chin in her hand.

"What do you mean?" Fuushin asked.

"Out of all of the rookies here, only the members of Team 7 have been on an A rank mission. Actually, they're the only Genin here excluding myself to have taken on that level." Koharu told him. "Even Jonin don't go on missions of that level without backup, which means that there's no way the team survived on Kakashi-sensei's skills alone. That all four members came back alive is a testament to their skills."

Sasuke looked at her in confusion, "You said you've taken on A-ranks too?"

"Actually, I've taken on S-ranks, but I've never been involved in combat for any of those." She said while turning toward him. "I just serve as a support medic and a scout who avoids the actual battlefield by at least half a kilometer. I can do that only because of my sensory abilities, so my mission data may not accurately reflect my battle prowess."

"Is the Hidden Rain that desperate?" Kurenai asked.

"I've told the others this before, but a small village like ours that's prone to getting swept up in conflict can't afford to be as picky." Koharu told her. "That said, my mentor is skilled. I've only faced actual danger once while on a mission. It's mostly just a good opportunity for me to literally watch and learn."

"Oh? Is that so? But you can't beat me-ttebayo!" Naruto replied to Kiba, unaware of the conversation overhead.

"Like I said, don't act tough!" Kiba exclaimed, and both boys narrowed their eyes at each other.

"Moron." Koharu muttered again while crossing her arms, "Naruto isn't the type to put up a front except when he's feeling stupid. He's probably the most sincere and honest person I know. That part of his personality is refreshing to me."

"Well then, please begin!" Hayate told the boys.

Kiba crouched down and wove a sign before placing his hands on the ground, crouching on all fours as his nails grew and sharpened as if they were claws. "Let's go!" He exclaimed, suddenly charging at Naruto with speed that the blond hadn't been expecting. Before he even knew what was happening, Kiba slammed his elbow into Naruto's solar plexus.

"Fast!" Sakura gasped in surprise as Naruto was sent flying backwards.

Koharu snorted. "It's amazing to me how easily impressed you guys are when it comes to speed." She muttered while resting her chin in her hand again.

Kiba stood back up, grinning confidently. "It'll be a while before he opens his eyes, Shikenkan-san." He said to Hayate.

"Just as I thought." Shikamaru remarked.

"That Naruto can't be equal to Kiba." Ino agreed.

"Naruto-kun..." Lee said sadly. "That was too uncool."

"See?" Kurenai said to Kakashi.

"Just how bad did he do in the Academy that you guys think so little of him?" Koharu asked in annoyance, crossing her arms once more.

"Hmph." Sasuke said beside her with a smirk, "I'll give him this much. For one reason or another, the Academy somehow managed to obscure his actual ability."

Koharu snorted again, "Of _course_ it did. He was giving the Chuunin of the village the runaround when he was _seven_. A talentless child wouldn't be capable of something like that."

Kiba had been walking back to Akamaru, but he stopped and looked over his shoulder, only to see Naruto getting to his feet.

"Don't... Don't... Underestimate me!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Ohhh!" Lee exclaimed with excitement.

"Go! Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed.

"What are you talking about, bleeding like that?" Kiba asked in annoyance. "Your tough talk has gone too far!"

Naruto laughed, "I didn't use my power fully... to observe your strength first!"

"Ohh..." Koharu said with interest, leaning on the railing and placing her chin in her hand again with an interested grin, "His ability to strategize has improved, although it would be more efficient if he could find a way to measure his opponent's strength without getting hit." Kurenai idly wondered if the young girl had any idea that the way she was standing made her look far older than thirteen.

"You too!" Naruto replied to Kiba, "Cut the tough talk and use the dog or whatever you want!"

Kiba gritted his teeth, "You'll regret this...! Let's go, Akamaru!"

"You say all that, but... exactly how is it smart to goad his opponent like that?" Shikamaru asked Koharu.

"That particular matter has nothing to do with strategy." The blue-haired girl replied, "Naruto simply doesn't want to fight an opponent who isn't giving it everything he has. He'd feel like it was unfair if he won under those circumstances. Well, it's true that there may be a certain danger to his thinking that way, but as the Hokage explained earlier, the entire point of this part of the exams is for us to display what we're capable of. If either of them hold back, neither of them will be able to display their full potential here."

Kiba charged at Naruto and threw a smoke bomb, obscuring the blond's field of vision. Koharu winced as she watched her brother getting smacked around within the smoke.

"What's going on?" She asked, unaware of the smoke from Kiba's smoke bomb.

"Kiba threw a smoke bomb to conceal his movements." Sasuke answered.

"Not good..." She muttered, "Kiba can move around in that smoke by using his nose and ears. Naruto doesn't know how to use his own sensory abilities, and he hasn't been trained to rely on his ears when his eyes can't track the enemy."

"Sensory abilities?" Sasuke asked, and Koharu turned her head toward him.

"Naruto is a sensory type by nature. That's common in the Uzumaki Clan. However, his abilities aren't passive. They require a conscious infusion of chakra. He hasn't learned how to do that on purpose yet. Sometimes, when he's stressed or excited by something, he'll tap into them instinctively, but he doesn't actually know that they're there, let alone how to use them on purpose." She turned her head back toward the arena below, "I can't teach him how to use them either, since they aren't related to my abilities per se. Even though they're from the same clan, his sensory abilities are different from those of Karin-chan. Actually, her abilities are rare, even among the Uzumaki."

"Oh!" Sakura said in realization, "So that's how he sensed that rabbit that he found in the forest in the Land of Waves!"

"Precisely." Koharu said with a nod, "If his mother were still alive, she could've helped him to hone those abilities."

Naruto dashed out of the smoke, only to be met by Akamaru, who jumped up, biting the boy's hand and knocking him back into the cloud.

"What...?" Ino asked in confusion.

"Darn! I can't see anything!" Shikamaru muttered.

Koharu just smirked.

Kiba jumped back and the smoke cleared to show Naruto lying on the ground and Akamaru sitting next to him. The little dog wagged his tail and yipped happily at his owner.

"Yeah! We did it!" Kiba exclaimed. Akamaru yipped in excitement as he ran back over to Kiba, and Kiba held his arms out to welcome him. "Good job, Akama—" He stopped mid-sentence, looking confused as Akamaru suddenly growled and jumped up, biting onto Kiba's forearm. Everyone, Kiba included and Koharu excepting, looked on in shock. "A... Akamaru... Why?" Kiba asked. Koharu snorted and put a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking as she struggled to avoid bursting with laughter, earning a weird look from Sakura, although Sasuke had guessed by now what she had already been aware of. Akamaru continued growling as he clamped down on Kiba's arm, dangling from it. "Why?" Kiba asked again.

"You took the bait!" Came the muffled voice of Naruto from Akamaru. Kiba's eyes widened and in a puff of smoke, Naruto suddenly resumed his true form, grinning as he continued biting down on the other boy's arm.

"What?! Henge no jutsu!" Kiba exclaimed. "Ouch! Shoot! Let go!" He demanded, shoving Naruto away.

Naruto backed away, blue in the face, and quickly spit in an attempt to cleanse his palette. "You smell like a dog-ttebayo!"

"Where... Where's Akamaru?!" Kiba exclaimed in alarm.

"Right here!" Naruto's shadow clone said as he held the little dog up by his forelegs and Akamaru whined.

"Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed in surprise before glowering at Naruto, "Darn!"

"No way!" Ino exclaimed. "That's Naruto?! An equal match with Kiba... No, it may be more than equal!"

"Combining Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Henge no Jutsu, that's a clever trick." Shikamaru admitted. "That Naruto shouldn't be able to do that."

Sakura smirked over at the Nara boy, "He's come up with even better strategies than that in the past."

Unable to take it anymore, Koharu finally burst out laughing, holding her stomach and falling onto her back as she busted a gut. "You failed to tell the difference between Naruto and your own dog!" She exclaimed between giggles, "So much for your sense of smell, Kiba!" She continued laughing, unable to stop, "Serves you all right for thinking so little of my brother!"

Sasuke and Sakura stared at the convulsing girl in utter shock, thinking that it wasn't quite _that_ funny.

"...How long do you think she's going to keep laughing?" Sakura asked of nobody in particular.

"Who knows?" Chino replied, "I've never seen her laugh like this before, so I have no idea."

"Come to think of it, she's been practically beaming like the sun since we arrived here for the exams." Fuushin remarked, "Usually she's a little more sombre, like she's always got something on her mind."

A vague expression of guilt crossed Kakashi's face, "Perhaps this is what she'd always be like if she'd had a normal childhood." He lamented. In the back of his mind, Sasuke wondered if he too would laugh more freely if that night had never happened.

Naruto chuckled and Kiba, who was somehow unaware of the way that Koharu was laughing at him, grinned.

"You've gotten a little bit stronger." He admitted. "But it's already over. Next, I'll attack you seriously."

"Oh really?" Naruto asked with a grin, "But you absolutely will not beat me-ttebayo!"

Although she had calmed down a little, at least enough to sit up, Koharu was still laughing as she said, "Kiba's such an idiot! A shinobi can't afford to take any opponent lightly. On a mission, that's a good way to get killed."

Kurenai sweat-dropped, "Even though she's right, I can't take her seriously when she says that while laughing her head off..."

"I suspect part of it is just happiness from being with Naruto again, even if it's just for a little while." Kakashi told her.

"Evidently, it's no longer 'that' Naruto." Shikamaru remarked to his teammates.

"Yeah." Ino said with a nod.

Suddenly Koharu, having finally gotten control over her laughter, turned and looked over at Asuma, "It's nothing that Kakashi-sensei did, Asuma-sensei."

"Huh?" Asuma said in confusion, looking over at the young girl as she smiled at him.

Koharu tilted her head in amusement, "Kakashi-sensei didn't do anything in particular to improve my brother's potential. Naruto has always been talented, especially when it comes to forming strategies at the drop of a hat. How do you think he gave the village chuunin the run around for all these years?" She shook her head and turned back toward the arena as she stood up, "Because he's not particularly good at studying or understanding verbal explanations, people have always assumed that Naruto was unintelligent and lacking in talent, but that's not the case. He's the type of person who learns by doing. However, his immense chakra reserves are difficult for him to control, so he has some difficulty with more basic jutsu, especially anything that requires Yin chakra, of which he has almost none. But things that are usually more difficult for somebody his age are also possible for him _because _he has so much chakra. If it requires an immense amount, its actually easier for him to pull off. That's why he's able to use the Shadow Clone jutsu to an extent that not even Jounin can manage." She leaned on the railing again with a smile, "The talent, the potential, the intelligence... it was always there. It just wasn't something that he could utilize within the setting of the Academy. There's a reason that he had a B in taijutsu, the one thing that doesn't require chakra control. Well, unless you're from the Hyuuga or Mayonaka anyway."

Kiba straightened up and breathed in deeply, appearing to become more focused and Koharu redirected her attention to the two boys as Kiba reached into his pouch. "Naruto... Akamaru... Return him to me." He said with a grin while flicking a small pellet toward Akamaru. The small dog yipped and caught the pellet in his mouth, quickly consuming it.

"Huh?" Naruto said in confusion.

Koharu frowned. "A food pill, huh? Speaking of which, I should probably eat one myself. No telling when I might need to use my chakra for something other than observation." She reached into her own pouch and pulled a food pill out, quickly popping the small ball into her mouth to refresh herself.

Sakura raised a brow, "Just how many of those do you carry?" She asked.

"I try to carry enough to last a month." The blue-haired girl answered, "But sometimes I run out faster, depending on how much I have to exert myself, which is a matter of how much my scouting abilities are needed and how much time I have to spend tending to injuries."

Akamaru growled, his fur bristling and turning a reddish-brown color as Naruto watched in surprise and confusion. Kiba smirked as Akamaru suddenly let out something of a roar and kicked free of the Kage Bunshin.

"What?" Naruto asked in confusion as Akamaru landed beside his master, "What just happened? His fur turned red!"

"That's why he's called 'Akamaru'." Kiba remarked before swallowing a food pill of his own. Koharu frowned in confusion.

"Is Akamaru-chan not normally red?" She asked.

"No, he's white." Sasuke said simply.

"Let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba said as he formed a seal and crouched down. Akamaru replied by barking strangely as he jumped onto Kiba's back. "Gijuu Ninpo! Juujin Bunshin!" As the burst of smoke from the jutsu cleared, it seemed as though there were two of Kiba stacked on top of another.

"T-There's something wrong with their eyes-ttebayo!" Naruto said nervously, "He's using some weird drug! Isn't this doping?! Is this okay?!" He demanded of Hayate.

"Yes." Hayate replied calmly, "Food pills are one of his ninja tools." He coughed quietly and Naruto glared while pointing a finger at the proctor.

"What?! That's all you have to say?!" The blond exclaimed.

Koharu let her head drop onto the railing in exasperation. "I need to school my brother on the various clan's Hiden Techniques..."

"What the?" Shikamaru muttered. "What did that guy eat?"

"They're food pills." Chouji said matter-of-factly, causing his teammates to look at him.

"Food pills?" Ino asked.

"Food pills are a secret medicine that people in the military take and fight for three days and three nights without a break..." The Akimichi boy explained. "They're high in protein, easily absorbed, and sometimes have some kind of component that induces agitation or sedation..." Shikamaru and Ino both looked back at the arena as they understood and Chouji continued. "Kiba and Akamaru's chakra must be doubled right now..."

"There are two main types of food pills." Koharu added, causing the others to look at her, "Soldier pills, which are high in nutrition and enable a person to go for longer periods without eating. These are frequently used in situations where the circumstances don't allow for the luxury of a meal break. The second type are usually made from secret recipes that are passed down within a clan, similar to hiden jutsu, that have special effects on the body, usually for the purpose of enabling the user to use a special kind of jutsu."

Sakura looked over at her. "Which are the kind that you carry with you, Koharu?"

"Mine are somewhere in between." She answered, "Because my Shinjitsugan is constantly active, it constantly consumes my chakra. The food pills that I eat were developed by my father and are designed to help counteract that. Without them, I would suffer chakra depletion on a regular basis. That said, although they do allow my body to produce chakra at a higher rate than normal, they don't have any other kind of special effect. Kiba's food pills are designed to not only increase his chakra, but also increase his feral instincts and improve his ability to mimic an animal. In case you're wondering, the food pills that I gave to all of you before this exam were just soldier pills that had been modified to suit your tastes. Hinata-chan helped me to make them. More accurately, I developed the recipes and she actually made the pills."

"It's over with this..." Kiba declared. "Let's go!" He and Akamaru both jumped into the air and charged at Naruto. "Shikyaku no jutsu!"

Despite their speed, Naruto quickly leaned back and backflipped away just before the two could collide with him. He was almost instantly on the defensive, being forced to dodge the speedy attacks of his opponent. Or was it opponents?

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed.

"Naruto is in trouble..." Asuma remarked, causing Ino to look at him. "Kiba's the gung-ho fighter type who will attack like a beast with chakra wired throughout his body. And the food pills that double one's chakra are quite simply... the perfect pill for Kiba."

Koharu resisted the urge to snort again, thinking that Kisame made Kiba's "beast-like" fighting style look like a flopping fish. Since mentioning Kisame was obviously not an option right now, she decided to switch her train of thought to a different rail to avoid giving herself away. "You forget, Asuma-sensei, that Naruto is a 'beast' in his own way. Well, not that I expect he'll end up fighting that way right now. At any rate, while it's true that that food pill has increased Kiba and Akamaru's chakra, even combined, at best, it's only made them an even match for Naruto's inherently large reserves. Plus, right now, Kiba is running on pure instinct. Naruto's still able to make use of his brain, and as I've already said, he's smarter than everyone gives him credit for. Brains will triumph over instinct every time."

"Ho..." Asuma said with interest, "What makes you so sure of that?"

"Because I've seen it before."

"Huh?" Sakura asked.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

Koharu hesitated. "...Are you sure you want me to say? It might be painful for you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly, "It involves Itachi?"

"Yes, although what I'm thinking of was a few years before..."

"Go on." Sasuke told her, "It's possible I don't even remember."

The blue-haired girl nodded. "It was the third round of his Chuunin Exam. At that time, my father was the head of the medical corps and was on duty at the stadium. I was with him as part of my medical training. Itachi-san's opponent was a shinobi of the Hidden Cloud called Nemui. True to his name, he literally fought while sleeping. You see, Nemui was a coward who was too scared of dying to even look his opponent in the eye. He relied entirely on instinct to fight. Strategy wasn't even in the picture, and that's the primary reason that he got crushed into the ground. Every time Nemui would stop to open his eyes, however briefly, Itachi-san would catch him in a genjutsu with his Sharingan. I don't know what exactly happened in those illusions, but by the time the match was over, Nemui was in complete hysterics and had to be literally carried out of the stadium." She sweat-dropped.

"That's... disturbing." Sakura said.

"I suppose it is, in a way, but Itachi-san actually did that boy a favor." Koharu said with a shrug, "If he had continued as a shinobi, Nemui's efforts to avoid facing his fear of death would've eventually led him to the very fate that he was so afraid of. As it was, after receiving treatment from my father, he gave up on his career as a ninja."

"Are you saying Itachi did that to be kind?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"I never said anything about your brother's intentions." Koharu replied bluntly, "I know what they were, of course, but that's kind of a moot point by now, don't you think?"

"Hn." Sasuke relented, turning his attention back to the fight.

"The point is, Nemui fought using instinct alone. Itachi-san fought using an actual strategy." Koharu stated as she turned her face back to the arena below them, "Strategy and analysis are superior to instinct. Even a weak opponent can overcome a powerful one if they stay calm and use their head." She watched as Naruto gathered chakra into his legs and jumped into the air. _'His chakra control has improved greatly.' _She mused silently.

"Here's my chance!" Kiba exclaimed as he rushed toward the airborne Naruto. "Take this!" He exclaimed. "Juujin taijutsu oogi!" He began to spin around rapidly, like a drill, with Akamaru following suit. "Gatsuuga!"

Naruto cried out as he flew through the air and promptly landed on his head, coughing out blood in response, and for the first time since the fight began, Koharu actually seemed a bit worried about her little brother.

"This is the true difference in our powers." Kiba said as he stood back up from where he had landed in a crouch.

Naruto's hand twitched, as if to show he was still conscious, and he spoke in a raspy voice. "I'm going... to become... the Hokage... In this place, I can't..." He began struggling to get up.

"You? Hokage?!" Kiba asked with a smirk. "When you're weaker than me?" He chuckled. "I'll become Hokage for you!"

Suddenly Koharu slammed her hands down on the railing, "Don't you _dare_ try to steal his dream, Inuzuka Kiba! You don't know anything about Naruto or what he's capable of!"

"Koharu?" Sakura asked in confusion, and Koharu lowered her head.

"Everyone always said that Naruto and I were complete opposites... Naruto's parents were both highly skilled, but he was considered talentless. I, on the other hand, was said to be a 'hawk born from a kite', an exceptionally talented child born to ordinary people." She gripped the railing with her hands, "But the people who said that didn't understand anything. Naruto's clumsy and he struggles more than most... but because of that, he never looks down on others. He has an incredibly kind heart. He always looks out for others. In my mind, that, more than anything, is what a Hokage should be." She smiled sadly and closed her eyes as a tear flowed down her cheek, "And Papa always said that he got that from his father." She opened her eyes again, staring blankly down toward the arena as she continued. "Naruto's chakra is warm and comforting, like the flames of a campfire. He's like the very embodiment of the Will of Fire. He's the brightest spark in all of Konoha."

Kiba was apparently deaf to anything Koharu said as he continued looking down at Naruto, who was struggling to get back up. "You know deep down inside that you can't become the Hokage. So quit acting tough."

Koharu began to shake and closed her eyes again, gritting her teeth as tears flowed down her cheeks. "How many times do I have to tell him that Naruto doesn't put on airs like he does...? Why do people think that they can just say whatever they want...?" Suddenly Hinata hugged her friend in an attempt to comfort her, and Koharu turned toward her in surprise. "Huh? Hinata-chan...?" The Hyuuga girl didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. She knew that Koharu could sense what she felt, what she wanted to convey. That she, just like Koharu, believed that Naruto was truly much stronger than Kiba.

"Stand up, Naruto!" Sakura suddenly exclaimed as Naruto pulled himself back to his feet.

"Look, Koharu-chan..." Hinata said softly as she smiled, "I know you can see it. Everyone is acknowledging Naruto-kun now."

Koharu sniffled and smiled softly. "Yeah..."

"If you... compete with me for the name of Hokage, then..." Naruto boldly met Kiba's gaze, "You... will be the loser!"

Kiba pointed at the other boy. "Geez, saying the same thing over and over. You're persistent."

The blond only smirked at him. "Heh."

Kiba's eyes widened as he realized that Naruto wasn't going to back down.

"Well fine. In that case, I'll make it so you won't stand up again!" He rushed at Naruto with a still transformed Akamaru. "Let's go, Akamaru!

This time, rather than the little yip, Akamaru let out a deep bark.

"You think you can get me with that same technique again?" Naruto asked.

Kiba ignored his taunt. "Take this!" He exclaimed before once again launching into Gatsuuga. Naruto jumped in order to avoid the attack, but ended up getting hit in the air before landing face first on the ground. Kiba and Akamaru both landed in a crouch and skidded to a halt as they slid back. Naruto pulled himself back into a sitting position and looked between them before Kiba threw another smoke bomb at the blond. "Gatsuuga!" The Inuzuka boy exclaimed as he and Akamaru leapt into the cloud again. The moment they came back out of said cloud, they once again skidded backwards and Kiba smirked. "Heh! Looks like you've got nothing left!"

"I've got a lot left!" Naruto replied, "Even if you increased yourself by three or four, I'd still have a lot left."

"That's certainly true." Koharu remarked, "Naruto's chakra exceeds that of most Jounin, and he's scarcely even tapped into it, whereas Kiba's is steadily dropping."

"Even so... with the amount of damage he's taken... can he really keep this up?" Sakura asked with concern.

"Don't underestimate his regenerative abilities." Koharu replied, "He is an Uzumaki. You can't see it from here, I'm guessing, but his smaller injuries have been rapidly healing even as he keeps getting knocked around."

"Ha! You've got a comeback for everything!" Kiba remarked, "Let's finish him with the next, Akamaru!"

"Good luck with that..." Koharu said as Akamaru snarled in agreement with his master. She could see her brother shaking, but whereas most might've thought that he was at his wits end, Koharu could see that he was formulating a plan. Kiba through yet another smoke bomb before he and Akamaru attacked again.

"What will you do, Naruto?" Sakura worried.

Naruto quickly formed a hand seal in the midst of the smoke. "Henge!"

"It's over!" Kiba exclaimed before suddenly coming to a halt alongside Akamaru and...

"So that's how it is, huh?" Kakashi asked.

"Huh?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"There, look closely." Her sensei told her.

Sakura did as he said and quickly saw what Kakashi meant. "Oh!"

As the smoke in the arena below cleared away, everyone—save for Koharu—realized that the three figures within all looked like Kiba.

"You did it! That's a clever move, Naruto!" Sakura cheered.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed softly, a small smile blossoming on her face.

"If he transforms into Kiba, the real Kiba doesn't know which is Akamaru and which is Naruto... he can't attack carelessly." Sakura surmised.

"However, it's okay for Naruto-kun to attack either one! Ohhh!" Lee exclaimed with excitement, causing Koharu and her teammates to sweat-drop.

"He's created a chance opening... good work!" Sakura added.

"You're overestimating the usefulness of this tactic." Koharu told them bluntly, "It's true that he's created an opening, but if he makes a move to attack, Kiba will instantly know which one is him. Furthermore, there are numerous ways for Kiba to overcome this."

"Up until now, you've been saying that we've been underestimating Naruto." Shikamaru remarked, "Now you're saying we're overestimating him?"

"Not at all." Koharu replied, "I said you're overestimating the tactic of making himself look like Kiba."

"Huh?" Shikamaru said in confusion.

"Well, you'll understand soon enough." Koharu remarked.

"I'll give you a piece of advice!" Kiba said without moving, "I was careless before and a little late to realize it... But the Transformation Technique isn't effective anymore! Why, you ask?" Suddenly he whooped with excitement as he punched one of the two duplicates. "I can smell you. Don't underestimate our sense of smell, Naruto!" He taunted.

"Yeah, because it worked so well earlier." Koharu smirked.

"Heh, I won!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Wrong again, Kiba." The blue-haired girl said as a puff of smoke appeared around the downed duplicate.

"Wh-What?!" Kiba exclaimed in confusion and alarm as he took in the sight of Akamaru lying on the ground. He stared in shock for a moment before shifting his attention to the double behind him. "Then you're Naruto!" He exclaimed while punching the second duplicate, "Messing with me!" To his surprise, this duplicate also turned into Akamaru. He turned back around as the first one suddenly turned into Naruto, who charged at him and kicked him to the ground. Koharu grinned.

"The art of misdirection is Naruto's strong suit." She said cooly, "It's something he's honed as a result of years of playing pranks."

"Naruto-kun... amazing!" Hinata exclaimed in her soft-spoken manner.

Kiba wiped his mouth with his arm and looked at the real Akamaru, his hand trembling with anger before he clenched it. "Darn it!"

Naruto just chuckled, grinning wildly.

"Was Naruto ever that smart...?" Ino asked.

"Naruto was always that smart." Koharu replied. "He's been playing pranks on the village since we were little. Do you think it's easy for a five-year-old to shake off a bunch of Chuunin?"

"You little...!" Kiba exclaimed, and Naruto laughed at him.

"Think hard about your jutsu before you use them! Because they'll be used against you, idiot!" The blond taunted.

Kakashi laughed nervously, "He's using my line, word for word..."

"At least you know he was listening to you." Koharu remarked. A moment later, she gagged slightly with surprise. "Did Kiba just bite his own hand?!" She exclaimed, "Is that some kind of habit used for grounding among the Inuzuka?!" She could obviously tell that Kiba was beginning to get flustered, but the fact that the boy had bitten himself to the point of drawing blood utterly astounded her. When he had managed to calm himself, Kiba pulled out four shuriken in each hand. "Sasuke, is Kiba-san good at shuriken?" Koharu asked.

"He's decent I guess, why?" Sasuke replied.

"This is the first time I've seen someone besides you and myself intend to wield multiple shuriken since I came back." Koharu explained, "The most I've seen anyone else use at a time is two."

"Heh! So you've finally gotten serious, Kiba?" Naruto asked, "Well then," he formed a sign with his hands, "I'll end this... with my new special jutsu I've been saving up!"

"What?!" Kiba exclaimed with a growl, "A new trick?!"

"Huh? When did he...?!" Sakura gasped.

"Leave it to Naruto-kun to hide a new technique!" Lee exclaimed with excitement.

"Heh! What new jutsu? It's obviously a bluff!" Kiba said.

"You can test out whether it's a bluff or not-ttebayo!"

"Tch..." Kiba said, feeling both frustrated and anxious.

"He hasn't actually been hiding it, Lee-san, and to answer your question, Sakura-chan, I suspect that he came up with it on the fly." Koharu told the others, "Naruto is the type who thinks on his feet rather than planning ahead. It's part of why he's so unpredictable. He really does have a new jutsu in mind, but he hasn't actually tried it out yet."

"He's not seriously going to attempt a brand new ninjutsu at the drop of a hat?!" Fuushin asked in surprise, but Koharu shook her head.

"More likely a combination technique." She said, "In addition to the art of misdirection, one of Naruto's specialties is combining ninjutsu and Taijutsu. It's a talent that helps him overcome his lack of ability for genjutsu, as well as his general lack of Yin chakra."

"Lack of Yin chakra?" Chino asked in surprise, "Do you mean he doesn't have Yin chakra at all?"

"Of course he does, everybody does." Koharu replied, "It's just that he has vastly more Yang chakra and that difference throws him off. The reason why is... something I can't really go into."

"Let's go-ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, and as if in response, Kiba charged forward.

"Since I don't know what kind of new trick it is, I just won't let you use it!" The Inuzuka boy exclaimed as he began hurling the shuriken at Naruto, two at a time, forcing the other boy to dodge.

"Oh... his shuriken jutsu is better than I expected." Koharu remarked with interest, "And here I thought he was basically a three-trick pony with basically no ability to strategize."

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked.

"For all the time that this match has been taking, Kiba-san has been essentially using the same jutsu as a starting point and building on it." Koharu began.

"Ninjuu Ninpou: Shikyaku no jutsu!" Kiba exclaimed below them.

"See?" She emphasized, "Both the Juujin Bunshin and Gatsuuga use Shikyaku no jutsu as a starting point. Kiba's essentially been using the same jutsu to knock my brother around this entire time, and the only reason that has worked is because he's faster than Naruto." She frowned, "That's a problem, really. I need to try to work with him on his speed while I'm here. If his movement speed and reaction time don't improve, it will only be a matter of time before..." She sighed and shook her head, "I'm getting off subject. The point is that Kiba has shown very little in the way of actual strategy up until now. Overwhelming Naruto so that he can't even begin his new technique isn't much of a strategy, but it's a strategy nonetheless." She smirked in amusement as she noticed something, "Although I suspect it's only a matter of time before it fails." She watched as Naruto was knocked back by Kiba, but at least managed to stay on his feet.

"Why are you stopping?!" Kiba taunted before punching Naruto.

"Naruto!" Cried Sakura.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed with worry. The loud mouthed blond could be seen lying on the ground as the dust settled around him.

"Stand up! Naruto!" Sakura called.

"D-Darn! I don't even have time to build up my chakra!" Naruto muttered as he got up.

"Hey, hey! What's wrong?! Naruto!" Kiba taunted as he ran around Naruto before charging forward and slashing him with his claw like nails. The blond yelled as he was sent flying back.

"He's fast!" Chouji exclaimed, earning another scoff from Koharu.

"It's useless. He doesn't have time to form hand signs!" Ino exclaimed.

"That's something else I'll have to work on with him..." Koharu remarked, crossing her arms as she observed the battle.

"That's all you have to say?!" Ino exclaimed, "Aren't you the least bit worried about him?!"

"Sure." Koharu said, "I'm worried about how slow he is. But this match? Not really. You'd be surprised just how much of a beating my brother can take. I've healed him from way worse than this. The fact is, Kiba's window to take my brother down is closing."

"Geez, you really are blind." Shikamaru muttered. Koharu glared in his general direction, but said nothing, only observing her brother as he began to get back up.

"Take this!" Kiba exclaimed as he lunged at Naruto. However, the Uzumaki boy caught him off guard by grabbing Kiba's forearm after he'd been struck and throwing him over his shoulder.

"Take that!" Naruto returned.

Koharu smirked, "Well, I guess I won't have to make him run Taijutsu drills at the very least."

Kiba skidded to a stop as he managed to land in all fours. Naruto panted and looked at him. "I'm going to be Hokage!" He insisted, "I won't lose in this place!" He formed a sign with his hands again.

"Whatever! You can't keep up with my speed at all!" Kiba exclaimed as he charged at Naruto, yelling as he lunged at the smaller boy again. Naruto dashed forward to avoid Kiba, managing to only get scratched by him. He grunted as he landed and breathed heavily. "Hey, hey, hey-hey-hey-hey-hey!" Kiba exclaimed as he charged at Naruto and slashed his back. Naruto yelled as he skidded face first across the floor, causing Koharu to wince a little.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed, and Koharu winced again.

"Sakura-chan... please stop screaming in my ear." She said plaintively.

Kiba panted from the exertion of his efforts and straightened up. "This what it's like when I'm serious." He told Naruto, "You understand, don't you? To me, you're merely...!" He stopped as he saw Naruto struggling to get back to his feet yet again.

"I definitely will not lose!" The blond insisted.

"That Naruto... he's trying hard, huh?" Chouji remarked, and Ino nodded.

"If I were Kiba, I'd be sick of this already." Shikamaru remarked.

"Shikamaru-san," Koharu began in a warning voice, "Shut your mouth before I decide to knock you out. You're getting on my nerves." She turned her face toward the arena again, "Kiba-san's just talking tough. This isn't the result of him being serious, he's actually more like a cornered animal at this point. His desperate efforts to prevent Naruto from using his new technique indicate that he's scared of what Naruto is capable of. He knows he'll lose if he gives Naruto an opening. Don't you think so... Shino-san?"

"Yes." Shino confirmed quietly, secretly amazed that Koharu had not forgotten his presence like everyone else seemed to have done.

Koharu sighed as she turned back to the arena again, placing her hands on the railing. "Putting on airs and talking down to my brother when he's actually the one backed into a corner... I don't know why you think so highly of him, Kurenai-sensei. He's mostly just an arrogant fool. And seriously, he's not that fast. That you guys are impressed by his speed just shows how inexperienced you all are."

"Naruto!" Sakura called, "Use the new technique or whatever! Just settle it!"

"Naruto-kun! Go for it!" Lee encouraged.

"They realize that he would if he could, right?" Sasuke asked of nobody in particular.

"Don't worry." Koharu told him, "I have a feeling he's about to get his chance."

Sasuke scoffed. "I'm not worried." He insisted before looking back at the fight, "...If anything, I know even better than you do what that guy is capable of." Koharu smirked at the Uchiha's begrudging acknowledgement of her brother.

"Ha! You've got no effect on me!" Naruto taunted.

"You've got spirit, I'll give you that!" Kiba replied.

"I'll make the new technique explode no matter what!" The blond insisted.

"Well, something's about to explode anyway." Koharu remarked, earning confused glances from those around her.

"I won't let you!" Kiba exclaimed as he charged forward on all fours.

"Three..." Koharu began.

Naruto yelled with effort to improve his chakra infusion.

"Two..."

"You're slow! Take this!" Kiba exclaimed as he circled around Naruto to attack him from behind.

"One."

"Oops!" Naruto exclaimed as he felt himself passing gas by mistake, just as Kiba's nose was level with his rear. The Inuzuka boy screamed in agony as he held his nose, due to his currently enhanced sense of smell.

Sakura stared in mortified shock while Hinata blushed in embarrassment.

"You knew that was going to happen?" Sasuke asked incredulously as he looked at Koharu.

"I could see the way that his chakra was moving inside of his digestive tract." The girl explained calmly before turning her head toward Sakura and Hinata. "I don't know why you two are so embarrassed. It's a perfectly normal bodily function. Merely the result of a healthy intestinal tract combined with Naruto's high daily intake of soy, albeit, the stress he's been under since Kiba began circling him like a mosquito did make him a little more gassy than usual, but that's also perfectly normal. The smell assaulting Kiba's senses is likely the result of Naruto's frequent pork intake. Frankly speaking, pork smells awful."

"How can you talk about this as if you're discussing the weather?!" Sakura asked in astonishment.

"I'm a medic." The blue haired girl said flatly, "Bodily functions don't faze me, regardless of the type."

Sakura blinked before nodding in understanding and looking back at the arena. "Naruto! Now's your chance!"

"Darn! I was straining too much!" Naruto muttered with slight embarrassment, "But now's the time to show my new technique!" He formed a different sign with his hands, "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Four Shadow Clones appeared, two on either side of the boy, and the five Naruto's spread out and surrounded Kiba. "All right! The way you've torn me apart, I'll give it back all at once!" He exclaimed.

"D-Darn it!" Kiba exclaimed, seeing that he had no means of getting out of the circle.

One of the Shadow Clones charged forward and struck Kiba with his fist. "U-!" The real Naruto used the clone's back as a spring board and launched himself into the air. The other three clones gathered around Kiba and hit him with three successive back updrafts into the air. "Zu-! Ma-! Ki-!" They exclaimed in time with their kicks. The original Naruto then hit Kiba square in the head with a heel drop. "Naruto rendan!" He exclaimed.

Kiba landed face first on the ground and coughed up a bit of blood before becoming still. Naruto landed and stood over him, panting lightly. Hayate walked over to the pair and checked to see whether or not Kiba was conscious. Upon finding that he was not, he coughed twice before speaking.

"The winner is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Ohhh!" Lee exclaimed with excitement.

"Shannaro!" Sakura exclaimed happily, "Nice one! You did it!"

"That Naruto beat Kiba!" Shikamaru said in surprise, causing Koharu to roll her eyes.

"It's a major upset..." Chouji remarked.

"Yup!" Ino said happily.

Naruto laughed as he ran up the stairs, "That was easy!" He exclaimed.

"Idiot!" Koharu exclaimed, whacking her brother none-too-gently over the back of the head.

"Ow! What the heck, Neechan?" He whined.

"If it was easy, then why did it take you so long?!" Koharu demanded, "What the heck were you doing for the past five years that everyone except your teammates thought you were completely incapable? Your lack of speed is cringeworthy, and could you be any slower at weaving signs?! How do you expect to survive against enemies like Orochimaru at this level?!"

"Don't you think bringing in someone at the level of the Sannin is a little extreme?" Kurenai asked.

"Kurenai-sensei..." Koharu began slowly, "That guy has been targeting me since I was two, and between Naruto and myself... Are you really bothering to ask? My brother has got to be one of the only people I know of who could leave the village for the first time in his life, only for his first C-rank mission to turn into an A-rank."

Kurenai sweat-dropped.

"N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata stammered quietly.

"Huh?" Naruto said in confusion, his ears just barely catching the sound of her voice, "Did you say something, Hinata?"

Hinata gripped something in her hands, twiddling her thumbs nervously atop it as she stammered, "Ah, ah, ah... anoo..." She gulped nervously before finally turning to face Naruto and walking forward, finally holding a jar out to him, a nervous blush on her face.

"Huh? What's this?" Naruto asked.

"It's an ointment." Kurenai explained.

"Why for me?" Naruto asked in confusion, and Koharu face-palmed.

"Take it for her, Naruto." Kurenai encouraged.

"Hm... Okay!" Naruto agreed, "Thank you! You're a good person, Hinata!"

Koharu had been about to apologize to her friend for her brother's thickness, but upon sensing Hinata's great pleasure at the small interaction, she decided against it. Sensing the mood of Hyūga Neji as he watched the two rookies, she turned toward him. The Jounin all tensed as they sensed the killing intent surging between the two teenagers.

* * *

Oh my gosh, I finally finished this darned chapter. It took forever! I didn't expect that writing Naruto and Kiba's battle would take so LONG! It's probably got some errors as I didn't properly proofread it yet, but I hope it's still good.


	20. Familial Bonds of Hatred

Naruto spread some of the ointment that Hinata had given to him onto one of his cuts and watched as the wound immediately closed. "It works really well-ttebayo! This medicine!" He exclaimed. Beside him, Koharu giggled, knowing that while the medicine was helpful, it wasn't the true reason for Naruto's extreme healing speed. He put the lid back on as Sakura gaped at him, bug-eyed in shock from the speed at which he had healed. "Here!" He said as held the container out to Sakura, "Do you want to use it too, Sakura-chan?" Sakura looked at the medicine like she was scared of it and Koharu struggled not to laugh out loud.

As the medical team carried Kiba and Akamaru out, Hinata hurried down the stairs and approached them. "U-Um..." The team stopped and Kiba looked up at her in surprise. Still seeming nervous, she held up a second jar of the medicine, "T-This is... Ointment for your wounds, for you, Kiba-kun and Akamaru too."

Kiba chuckled and winked at her. "Rather than worrying about others, it's about time you worried about yourself!"

"Kiba-kun..."

"There are only six people left..." Kiba explained, "You, Chouji, Neji, Lee, one Sound guy, and the Sand guy." He opened his eye and hardened his expression, "Listen, Hinata... If you pull that guy from the Sand, withdraw immediately. And there's one more too. Do the same if you get Neji. Withdraw immediately. That guy will be hard on you. He will destroy you."

"There's no way I'm going to let that happen, Kiba-san." Koharu said as she came down the stairs to stand behind Hinata and offered a smile, "I've known those two for way longer than you, so just leave them to me." She hardened her gaze slightly, "Neji knows it too."

"Well then, let's announce the next match." Hayate said as Kiba was carried out. This caught everyone's attention. Hinata turned and looked at the board with worry. When it beeped, she instantly froze with fear and began to tremble. Koharu didn't even have to ask to know that the board had just placed Hinata up against Neji. She touched her friend's shoulder to snap her out of her mini-heart attack.

"It's okay." She said firmly as Hinata looked at her. "Remember the training that we did before the exams started. You can do this, Hinata-chan." She hugged her gently, "You _can_ become stronger." She released Hinata from the hug and began to head back up the stairs. As Neji passed by her on the way, she stopped and spoke quietly so that only he would hear. "If you take things too far, Neji, I guarantee you'll regret it."

"Hmph." Neji said softly, "You think you can beat me like you did when were kids? How do you know I haven't grown stronger than you by now?"

"I'm capable of using far more than just Juuken these days, and... Simply put, I've faced far more _dangerous_ people than the likes of you." She continued up the stairs silently as Neji glared at her back.

The two Hyuuga stood and faced each other in the arena. "I never thought that I would have a fight with you... Lady Hinata." Neji remarked. Koharu immediately tightened her grip on the railing when she heard him speak.

"Neji-niisan..." Hinata said softly.

"Niisan?!" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Are those two siblings?" Fuushin asked.

"Not literally siblings, even though their chakra makes them feel like there are." Koharu replied, "They're cousins."

"Those two are descended from one of the oldest and most noble families in Konoha, the Hyuga Clan." Kakashi explained further. "Their relationship... well, the best way to describe it is that of the Head Family and Branch Family."

"Head Family and Branch Family?" Chino asked in confusion.

"Yes. Hinata-san is from the head family of the Hyuuga Clan." Lee explained, "In other words, a person from the main household and Neji is from a branch family, that is descended from that family."

"In other words, it's a fight between relatives." Sakura said. "It must be uneasy for both of them..."

"Yes..." Lee replied, "But..."

"What?" Sakura asked.

"I've heard that since long ago, there've been various incidents between the head family and branch family, and now their relationship isn't on very good terms."

Koharu snorted, "That's putting it _way_ too lightly."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked her.

Koharu's gaze saddened and her head dropped slightly, "The relationship between them is far more complicated than Lee-san has made it sound."

"Why is there so much tension?" Chino asked.

"I don't know the details." Lee replied, "But... the so-called 'noble Ninja clans' like the Uchiha and Hyuuga have special techniques and abilities that run in the family."

"That's called a Kekkei Genkai, Lee-san." Koharu said with a roll of her eyes, "Close to half the people in this room have one. Neji, Hinata-chan, Sasuke, Chino-neechan, Fuushin-niichan, Gaara, and I were all born with them."

"Ehh..." Sakura said with interest. "But then, why are only Sasuke-kun and those two from well known families?"

"It's because both of their clans carry doujutsu in their bloodlines." Koharu replied, "Marrying outside of the clan is rare in these cases, as marrying another clan member helps to preserve the purity of their abilities and also prevents it from becoming common place in other clans. Doujutsu like ours are exceptionally rare and powerful, so their bloodlines are closely guarded. It was the same with my clan shortly before its disappearance during the third war, as well as with Chino-neechan's clan many years ago."

"Right." Lee said with a nod, "It seems that the Hyuuga household laid down rules for communicating those techniques, but... It seems that there are many rules that favor the head family..."

"Huh?" Sakura said.

"And there have been various incidents between the head family and branch family due to those rules." Lee added.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"In order to prevent the Byakugan from falling into enemy hands..." Koharu answered quietly, and Sasuke noticed a faint trembling in the girl's lip.

"So... this is a confrontation billed as a clash of fate..." Sakura remarked.

Hinata stood there before Neji, subconsciously clasping her hands in front of her and looking at the ground as Neji stared at her intensely.

"Oh, it's gonna begin." Kakashi said.

"Well then, please start the match." Hayate told the two. Neji responded by immediately moving his feet into a stance that was all too familiar to Koharu.

"Just one thing before we square off against each other in the match..." The boy began as he stared at his younger cousin. "I should advise you, Lady Hinata." At this Hinata looked up. "Withdraw!" He told her firmly. Koharu's grip tightened further, her knuckles turning white as Neji continued. "After all, you are not suited to be a shinobi! You're too kind. You wish for harmony and avoid conflict, you're open to going with the thinking of others. And..."

Suddenly Koharu slammed her hands on the railing, her eyes blazing with anger, "You shut up, Neji!" She exclaimed furiously, "You think you know how the world works, but you don't know anything at all! Kindness is not akin to weakness! I've seen even the kindest of people become incredible shinobi for the sake of protecting what's precious to them!" Sasuke noticed that Koharu was now biting her lip in an attempt to stop it from trembling. Her eyes were glistening, but she was clearly unwilling to let the tears fall. "Have you forgotten the condition I gave to you when you were in the Academy?! It's obvious you haven't apologized to her, so don't think you have the right to speak to her!"

Neji looked up at her in annoyance. "Fine. Then I'll speak to you. Lady Hinata has no confidence in herself. She's a always feeling inferior... That's why she thought it'd be a good idea to stay a Genin. However, you can't register for the Chuunin Exam without three members... So she couldn't turn it down when Kiba and the other proposed it, and... the truth is, she entered the exam reluctantly. Am I wrong?!"

"Y-You are wrong...!" Hinata managed, "You're wrong... I... I only... I wanted to change that about myself... So I proposed it myself..."

"Don't presume to always know everything about other people, you idiot!" Koharu yelled, "And for goodness sake's, his _name_ is Aburame Shino! He's from a noble clan just like you, you arrogant...!"

"N-Neechan's snapped...!" Naruto whimpered from where he'd taken to ducking behind Sasuke.

Hinata was looking away from Neji, her lip quivering, and Neji glared at her.

"Lady Hinata... As I thought, she is a spoiled one of the head family." He said to Koharu. "People can never change!" Hinata gasped, her eyes widening in shock. "A failure will _always_ be a failure... That personality and strength won't change." Koharu's eyes were wide and to Sakura and Sasuke's surprise, the tears finally began to flow down her cheeks as Naruto began to tremble with rage. "Since people don't change, differences exist among them... and expressions like 'elite' and 'failure' are born. Everyone judges and are judged based on the value of their face and brain, ability and body type, good and bad points of their personalities. People have to suffer and live within the means of the elements they cannot change. Just like the fact that I'm from a branch family and she's from the head family, these things can't change."

The tears began to fall down Koharu's cheeks faster. "You don't know anything..." She said quietly.

"I've seen through everything with this Byakugan." Neji continued, not hearing the blue-haired girl. "That's why I understand! She's just talking tough. She's really thinking that she'd like to run away from this place..."

"Th-that's wrong...!" Hinata insisted more firmly than before. "I really..."

"Byakugan?" Sakura asked, turning to Kakashi.

"It's said that if you trace the Uchiha Clan's history, the clan's ability has its source in the Hyūga clan." Kakashi replied, "The Byakugan is the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyūga Clan, a doujutsu similar to the Sharingan... However, with the ability of insight alone... it gets the better of the Sharingan."

Hinata was visibly trembling, her breath shaking as Neji activated his Byakugan. She whimpered as he stared at her for several seconds before speaking again.

"My eyes can't be deceived!" He declared, causing Hinata to gasp, "Just now, from my pressure, her line of sight was pushed to the upper left. This is the sign that she's recalling her past experience... her bitter past. And soon after that, her line of sight moved to the bottom right... This is the sign that she's imagining physical and mental suffering. In other words... she's picturing her old self, and from all of her experiences up until now, she's imagining the result of this battle... the image of her losing!" Hinata gasped again and Naruto clenched the jar of medicine she had given him.

"Hey, are you okay?" Fuushin asked as he noticed Koharu trembling violently where she stood.

"Even the act of propping her arms in front of her body..." Neji continued, "It's a gesture that means she wants to build a wall between us and keep distant. And that reflects her mind. That she doesn't want any more of her deepest feelings to be raided... Because everything I've just said is right on the mark, right? Furthermore..." Naruto's grip on the jar tightened even further. "Laying a finger on her lips, that too, is a self-familiarizing act which represents a sense of panic. It represents a defense instinct—she wants to alleviate the tension and unease. In other words, deep in her heart, she knows it's true, doesn't she? That changing herself is something she absolutely can't—"

"She can!" Naruto suddenly bellowed. Neji looked over his shoulder at him in annoyance, and Hinata suddenly calmed down a little as she looked up at him. "You don't have the privilege of deciding what a person is like, stupid!" The blond exclaimed angrily. "Give it to him, Hinata!"

Everyone except for Koharu stared at him shock. For her part, Koharu seemed to temporarily snap out of her own panic attack as she turned toward her brother, and then faced the arena again. "I believe I told you to shut up, Neji." She said firmly, "Acting all arrogant and thinking you know everything! Fine then! I'll show you what _true _insight is! The truth is that _you_ have an inferiority complex that is far more severe than Hinata-chan's. _You're _the one who's truly weak. You try to hide your insecurities about being 'from a branch family' by acting tough! Just who do you think you're fooling? Furthermore, you think yourself superior to others because of your visual prowess and natural talent, yet, you're frustrated that that 'superiority' isn't fully acknowledged because of your position in the clan! Furthermore, a person who is able to admit their faults and try to overcome them is a hundred times stronger than somebody who just acts all high and mighty!" Her glare hardened, "When it comes to your feelings, there's _nothing_ that these cursed eyes of mine can't see! And people most certainly _can_ change, because I know for a fact that you used to be very kind yourself! You're way more spoiled than she is! You think you know _all_ about how the world works, but you don't have a _clue_ how the world works because you've always had the luxury of living in safety! You don't know what it's like to have to constantly travel from place to place, just to survive, knowing that if you stop and stay anywhere for very long, you might be killed. You've never experienced being enslaved because you have a Kekkei Genkai or being forced to battle others in what might as well be a slave trading game! You sure as heck weren't the one who had multiple targets on your back in the forsaken forest outside just because of your lineage, and you didn't have to deal with a dangerous lunatic of a shinobi to boot! And the way you flaunt your power, it's quite obvious that—" Suddenly Koharu's eyes widened as something was stabbed into her neck, and she passed out into the arms of Sasuke.

"What did you do to her?!" Chino exclaimed in alarm.

"Relax, she gave me that senbon." Sasuke said as he pulled the needle in question out, "It's coated in a light sedative. She told me to use it to knock her out if it seemed like old memories were getting to be too much for her. She thought I'd probably be able to tell best."

"Why the heck would she leave that to you?" Fuushin asked.

"Would you have trusted Naruto to do it?" Sasuke asked as he laid Koharu on the floor to rest. "Sakura doesn't know her well enough and you guys don't know enough about her past."

"He's got a point." Chino admitted.

"Hinata!" Naruto suddenly yelled, ignorant of his sister's current state. "Don't just take it! Argue back-ttebayo! I'm getting irritated watching this!" Hinata looked at Naruto, and then slowly looked at the ground, her expression unreadable even to Neji, but it was clear to all that she had stopped trembling. After a moment, she lifted her head and met Neji's eyes with a firm stare of her own.

病

Meanwhile, although the sedative was relatively short-term, Koharu had begun to dream. It was the side-effect of using a sedative made from refined Kotaro, as even her chakra network was not immune to things like direct physical attacks or drugs. Currently in a state similar to being under genjutsu, she began to dream about her past.

病

_"Team 2, your first mission as Genin will be to babysit two young children." The Third Hokage said to the three Genin standing in front of him._

_"What? Babysitting?" Izumo Tenma complained, "How is that a mission for shinobi?"_

_"Don't be so hasty!" The Hokage warned, "Every Genin team I've assigned to babysit these children has failed!"_

_"Seriously?" Inari Shinko asked nervously, "Just how bad are these kids?"_

_Hiruzen exhaled some smoke from his pipe, "It's not so much that they're ill-behaved, but the little girl has powerful sensory abilities and has outright refused every babysitter ever assigned to her and her brother." He opened his eyes and looked at the squad, which also consisted of a seven-year-old Uchiha Itachi and the group's instructor, Minazuki Yuuki. "Allow me to explain. The children you are to be watching are Mayonaka Koharu, and her foster brother, Uzumaki Naruto. Koharu's father, Mayonaka Shinji, who is also Naruto's guardian, is the current head of the medical corps, and works at the hospital almost every day. On most days, they are watched by either Koharu's godmother, Tsunade, or Naruto's godfather, Jiraiya."_

_"Those are quite prestigious people to have as godparents!" Shinko said in wide-eyed astonishment._

_"However, there are some days, like today, where neither of those two are available." Hiruzen continued, "On such days, it becomes necessary to assign a Genin team to babysit them. But as I said, Koharu is extremely discerning and prone to outright rejecting any Genin we send. However, Naruto and Koharu are roughly six months apart in age, and Itachi's younger brother Sasuke is right between them, so I am hoping that she will accept Itachi. That Shinko only moved here sometime after Naruto's birth may also prove helpful."_

_"But what are we to do if she accepts Itachi and Shinko and rejects Tenma and myself?" Yuuki asked with a raised brow._

_"If that happens, simply guard their home and leave the actual childcare to Itachi and Shinko." The Third replied, "Itachi has enough experience from watching Sasuke to handle it."_

_"Guard it from what exactly?" Tenma asked, "Runaway pipsqueaks?"_

_"It's not that." Itachi said, speaking for the first time since they came in the room. "Koharu-chan awakened to her clan's Kekkei Genkai at an incredibly young age, and her Kekkei Genkai is also rather rare. That makes her a high level target for kidnappers."_

_Hiruzen nodded in confirmation, "In general, we try to prevent information about her abilities from leaking outside the village, but there's always a risk of an attempted kidnapping. Your assignment is not only to babysit the children, but also to protect them during Shinji's absence." He didn't need to explain to Itachi, Tenma, and Yuuki that that also meant protecting Naruto, the jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails, from abduction as well. For her part, Shinko was unaware of the boy's status, which was why the Third was actually making a point _**_not_**_ to say it._

病

_"Ugh, I do _**_not_**_ want to have to babysit those two creepy kids." Tenma groaned as they made their way to the house in question._

_"Tenma-san, if you're thinking that way, Koharu-chan is going to kick you out for sure. She can sense what people are feeling." Itachi said bluntly._

_"That's exactly why she's creepy!" Tenma replied._

_"Oh come on." Said Shinko, "So what if she's got some sort of weird power? She's still a little girl and little kids are adorable!"_

_"Not _**_these_**_ little kids..."_

_"Tenma..." Yuuki said with a warning tone, and the boy shut up. The Jonin then looked up at the house they had come to. "This is it."_

_"Huh? Didn't this used to be Lord Fourth's house?" Tenma asked._

_"Shinji-san's house was destroyed by the Kyuubi, so the village decided to let him live here since it was still standing." Itachi explained, purposefully leaving out the fact that the house would've technically been Naruto's anyway. He wasn't sure how many people in the village knew that Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage like he did. The four shinobi climbed up the steps leading to the front door, only for Mayonaka Shinji to open it before Yuuki had a chance to knock._

_"Sorry, but come on in." The medic said as he walked inside, "I'm running late, so we need to make this as brief as possible." Yuuki shut the door and the four of them followed the man into the living room to see two toddlers playing on a blanket._

_"Aww!" Shinko cooed. "Look at them! They're super adorable!"_

_Hearing the voice, Koharu turned her little head in their direction before standing up and toddling over to the group._

_"Koharu, sweetie, these are going to be your babysitters today." Shinji said plaintively, "Itachi, Shinko, Tenma, and Yuuki-san."_

_Itachi knelt down to Koharu's level, "Good morning, Koharu-chan. I'm Itachi. You probably don't remember, but we've met before." He said as he placed a hand on her head. To his surprise, the child immediately latched onto him._

_"Tachi... Kind..." She managed. Itachi smiled and stroked her little ponytail._

_"Oh my gosh, could she _**_be_**_ any cuter?!" Shinko exclaimed, causing Tenma to wince as she bent over to have her face level with Koharu's. The little girl turned toward her and Shinko gasped, "Her eyes are beautiful!" She exclaimed, suddenly picking the little girl up and spinning her around, "I think I'm in love!" Koharu giggled and Itachi straightened up._

_"This is Shinko-san." He told Koharu. He looked down at Naruto as the little boy toddled over to him and peered up at him curiously._ _Shinko gasped and set Koharu down as she knelt at Naruto's level._

_"Oh my gosh, he has beautiful blue eyes too!" She exclaimed, setting Koharu down and picking up Naruto instead to cuddle him. "How could anybody think these two are anything less than precious?!" She asked while tickling Naruto. The little blond laughed._

_"Neechan, Neechan!" He exclaimed happily._

_"Well what do you think, Koharu?" Shinji asked hopefully, smiling as his daughter latched onto Itachi again and snuggled against his chest._

_"Tachi kind. Tachi warm. Shinko silly but Shinko nice."_

_"Well I guess that means we've got the job then." Yuuki said._

_"No!" Koharu suddenly declared, detaching herself from Itachi. "Out!" She pointed toward the door. "Tenma, Yuuki, out!" She insisted again, attempting to turn them toward the door and not really caring who was who._

_"So much for that." Tenma remarked._

_"Not again..." Shinji groaned in exasperation._

_"It's okay." Yuuki assured him, "Lord Hokage saw this coming. Tenma and I will just stand guard outside."_

_Shinji nodded, "I have seals placed on the inside of the house to prevent Koharu and I from sensing everything within a one-kilometer radius, so she won't even know you're there."_

_Tenma rolled his eyes, thinking once again that these kids were creepy as he walked outside with his teacher._

_"Now then, let me give you two the rundown." Shinji began as he turned to Itachi and Shinko, "They've already had breakfast and there are bentos in the fridge for them. I should be home in time to cook dinner. There are also food pills in the kitchen. You need to give one to Koharu every hour on the hour. Otherwise, she'll pass out from chakra depletion due to the constant use of her Shinjitsugan, and that's not good for her body. They both take a nap in the afternoon. Do not let Naruto eat any of the food pills or he'll be bouncing off the walls. He's got more than enough chakra and energy as it is. Lunch is at noon, nap is at two. You're welcome to take them out to play if you want. In fact, it's better to let Naruto run around at least a little, or he'll never go down for his nap. Koharu is completely toilet trained. Naruto is almost there, but I still have him in trainers."_

_"Understood." Itachi said with a nod._

病

_A few months later, Team 2 arrived at the Mayonaka home once again, this time with Itachi's friend Shisui in tow, along with an excited young Sasuke._

_"Sorry for the all-nighter this time around." Shinji said as the group came in, "I couldn't get out of this shift and both Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade are away on missions."_

_"It's no problem." Itachi assured him as he set Sasuke down, his little brother quickly toddling off to play with the other two, "Okaasan actually seemed strangely happy that we were going to be gone overnight."_

_At that, Shinji chuckled, "Well, you know the drill by now. Although you'll have to make dinner for yourselves and them, I'm afraid I didn't have time. Koharu." He began as he turned toward his daughter, causing her to turn her head towards him, "Shisui-san and Team 2 are going to be here all night tonight, so that means that you _**_can't _**_kick Yuuki and Tenma out."_

_Koharu pouted, but acknowledged her father's instructions._

_"Okay!" Shinko began cheerfully once Shinji had left, "Why don't you make dinner, Itachi? You're the best at cooking."_

_"Are you nuts?!" Tenma exclaimed, "If he cooks, who's going to keep an eye on the little monsters?! Ow!" He exclaimed, feeling something collide with the side of his head. He looked down to see that the object in question was a plastic shuriken. He bent down and picked up the toy. "All right, which one of them threw this?" He glared at the three toddlers and Koharu stuck her tongue out at him._

_Shinko sweat-dropped, "She has surprisingly good aim for a kid who can't see..."_

_"That's why I've been saying she's creepy...Ow!" Tenma exclaimed again as another shuriken hit his head._

_"Koharu-chan, stop throwing things at Tenma-san." Itachi scolded. Koharu crossed her arms and pouted, but didn't disobey._

_"Well then who do you think should cook?" Shinko demanded with her hands on her hips, "It's obviously not going to be you!"_

_"You should, obviously." Tenma remarked, "You're the _**_girl._**_"_

_"What?!" Shinko shrieked in rage._

_"Koharu-chan..." Itachi began in a warning voice when he noticed the child preparing to throw another toy shuriken at Tenma. Koharu dropped the toy and pouted again._

_"I'll cook." Shusui interrupted, "Itachi and Shinko-chan can watch the kids. Tenma... maybe you should leave the room before Koharu-chan turns you into her practice dummy for taijutsu."_

_Tenma grumbled and walked out of the living room._

_The night proceeded relatively quietly from there. Normally, Itachi could easily manage Koharu and Naruto on his own, but the addition of Sasuke easily turned things into a two or three person job. This was especially true because Koharu was unusually clingy toward the boy that night, Sasuke was _**_always_**_ clingy toward Itachi, and then the fact that putting Naruto and Sasuke together in the same room meant that they were either squabbling or wreaking havoc together. Either way, stuff was getting wrecked. Even with the addition of Shisui, it was all that Team 2 could handle. Especially given that Koharu still wouldn't allow Tenma and Yuuki to come anywhere near her._

_Bath time had been interesting. Putting Naruto and Sasuke in the same tub had resulted in both Itachi and Shisui getting soaked, and Shinko hadn't faired much better. She swore that Koharu was trying to practice water style despite being barely three years of age._

_Given Koharu's extreme dislike of them, Tenma and Yuuki were forced to sleep in the living room. Her abnormal clinginess toward Itachi and Shisui (Shinji has mentioned that she became anxious whenever they went out recently) had also resulted in a peculiar arrangement of Koharu sleeping next to Itachi, Itachi being in between Koharu and Sasuke, Sasuke being in between Itachi and Shisui, Shisui being between Sasuke and Naruto, and Naruto sleeping between Shisui and Shinko with Shinko on the end, all in Shinji's room since Koharu's had been too small._

病

_Koharu awoke in the middle of the night, her senses having been alerted to an unknown presence. A creature she did not recognize was sitting in the room, a little ways from where she was sleeping. Curious, the little girl carefully got up, her feet padding quietly as she approached the unknown animal, wondering what it was and how it had gotten into the room in the first place._

_"Koharu-chan?" Itachi called softly. Despite being used to the amount of movement that Sasuke usually made while sleeping (his brother was currently lying sideways with his head by Shisui's stomach), the young shinobi had woken instantly when Koharu had gotten up. However, her small body was currently blocking him from seeing the animal. She inclined her head slightly to indicate that she had heard him. "What are you doing?"_

_Koharu pointed at the small creature. "What that?" She asked, her speech still slightly lacking in terms of grammar._

_"What's what?" Itachi asked as he carefully got up._

_Suddenly the creature's head dashed toward Koharu. She instinctively stepped back, pulling her hand back towards her body, but its mouth latched onto her wrist and she screamed as she felt her skin being pierced._

_"Koharu-chan!" Itachi exclaimed, dashing forward and catching the girl as she collapsed, having lost consciousness almost instantly. Dangling from her wrist was a small white snake._

_Shisui was there in an instant to help Itachi, carefully pulling the snake off of Koharu's wrist and stabbing a kunai through its head._

_"She's been bitten!" Itachi exclaimed urgently, even though that was pretty much obvious._

_"How did this thing even get in the house?" Shisui asked with concern. Suddenly, the nearby window was shattered. Both boys reacted instantly, shielding Koharu from the flying shards with their bodies and then looking up to see who was there. Yellow eyes gleamed as they locked onto the two young boys and the unconscious toddler in Itachi's arms._

_"Well, I wasn't expecting that you would be here too, Shisui-kun." Orochimaru practically hissed._

_"What's the meaning of this, Orochimaru?!" Shisui demanded, helping Itachi to support Koharu as they both prepared to protect her._

_"Itachi! Shinko!" Yuuki's voice came from the hall._

_"Yuuki-sensei!" Shinko called fearfully, holding on to the squirming Sasuke and Naruto, who were both trying to get to their respective siblings._

_Orochimaru frowned, "It seems it won't be possible for me to accomplish my goal without someone raising the alarm... Which means it will be more difficult to escape with a child in tow… Sarutobi-sensei will be relentless in his attempts to get her back." With that, the Snake Sannin vanished as quickly as he'd come._

病

Koharu gasped as she awoke, the long forgotten memory now fresh in her mind. Where had that come from?

She no longer cared as her senses locked onto Hinata. It appeared that the Jonin had stepped in to stop the match, but Koharu hardly cared about that as she instantly appeared beside Hinata and caught the girl when she collapsed into a coughing fit. "Hinata-chan!" She exclaimed, carefully lying the girl on the ground.

Naruto, Lee, and Sakura all jumped down. "Hinata!" Naruto called.

"Hinata-san!" Sakura practically screamed.

Hinata looked at Naruto with glazed eyes. "Naruto-kun..."

"Yeah." Naruto said with a smile and a nod.

"I..." Hinata's voice faded, and Naruto leaned closer to hear what she was trying to say. Koharu leaned forward and began working to heal the girl.

"Hey you, failure." Neji said to Naruto, and the blond looked over at him. "I have two pieces of advice for you." The brunette said. "First, if you intend to call yourself a shinobi, stop that revolting cheering of yours. And the second... a failure will always be a failure. No matter what, that won't change."

Naruto tensed and then stood up. "Want to test that out?" He asked Neji. Neji smirked, but Koharu unexpectedly reached out and caught her brother by the ankle.

"Don't even think about, Naruto! Trust me, there is nothing I would love more than crush Neji into the ground right now, but all fighting must take place in an official match. If you pick a fight here and now, you may get disqualified, and then you'll lose the chance to prove that Neji is an idiot. Now both of you, _shut up!_ You're making it hard for me to focus."

Naruto scowled, but turned away from Neji.

Suddenly, Hinata coughed and then stopped breathing, and everyone's eyes widened in alarm. Koharu pulled her hands away from her friend and unzipped her jacket. The flow of Hinata's chakra was all over the place, but Koharu was more concerned with something else as she felt Hinata's neck for a pulse and placed a hand on her chest. "Ventricular Fibrillation!" She exclaimed. Quickly, she straightened up and wove several kata with her hands before they sparked with lightning. "Raiton! Inochi no denryuu no jutsu! Ichidan!" She presses her electrified hands to Hinata's chest. The girl jolted slightly, and then Koharu placed her fingers on her neck again. She sighed in relief, carefully pulling Hinata's jacket off and tossing it aside so it was out of her way. "Kurenai-sensei, Sakura-chan, please help me!" She said, pulling a scroll from her waist pouch and unfurling it. She immediately summoned the first item it contained, a bag valve mask, and held it out to Kurenai. "We need to get her breathing again. I'll handle the compressions. Use that to force air into her lungs."

"Right." Kurenai replied as she immediately placed the mask on Hinata's face.

"Sakura-chan, hold the mask down on Hinata-chan's face to ensure the air makes it to her lungs." Koharu instructed.

"You carry things like this around with you?" Sakura asked incredulously as she knelt beside Hinata's head and did as Koharu had told her.

"I'm a field medic. I never know what procedures I might have to perform in the middle of nowhere. And a BVM is more sanitary than mouth-to-mouth." The blue-haired girl replied while she began the chest compressions, Kurenai following her rhythm with the BVM. When Hinata was breathing properly again, Koharu took a deep breath, focusing intently on her friend for a moment, before suddenly pressing several of the girl's chakra points in rapid succession. She sighed in relief as she saw Hinata's chakra flow stabilize a little. "No questions!" She told Kakashi before he could even ask what she had sensed he was about to say. She held her hands over Hinata as the green glow formed around them. As the medics from the medical corps came in, she turned her head toward them, glaring sternly. "Back off! Nobody moves her until _I _say so!" When they opened their mouths to protest, she quickly cut them off. "Do _not_ argue with me! I've been practicing field medicine since I was eight-years-old, and unless you've suddenly developed the ability to see her chakra, you _cannot_ give her better treatment than I can!" She sighed, analyzing Hinata's chakra. "There's so much damage... this is going to take forever to..." Suddenly, her eyes widened, "That's it!" She held up her hands in a sign. "Shinjitsugan!" Concentrating her chakra, she expanded her range from one kilometer to five kilometers before locking onto the chakra signature she was looking for. "Found her!" She quickly retracted her range and turned her head toward the Hokage. "Uzumaki Karin of the Hidden Grass is still in the forest, twenty degrees northwest of this tower, 3.5 kilometers away. Please have her brought here immediately!"

"Anko." Hiruzen said.

"Right." The woman responded, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Koharu shoved a food pill into her mouth and chewed it as she continued her treatment of Hinata. "Whatever it was you wanted to ask me earlier, Kakashi-sensei, you can ask me now."

"I thought the Shinjitsugan couldn't detect tenketsu like the Byakugan." Kakashi said in curiosity.

"Under normal circumstances, it _can't_." Koharu confirmed, "However, Neji's pinpoint attacks resulted in small pockets of inflammation on her skin caused by irritation stemming from the blockage of her tenketsu, making it possible for me to target them in order to restore her chakra network's ability to function normally. Now it's a matter of healing the damage to her internal organs. Fortunately, we were able to resuscitate her quickly."

"What would've happened if we hadn't?" Sakura asked.

"That depends on what you mean." Koharu replied. "If I hadn't succeeded at all, simply put, she'd have died. However, even a delay could have held serious consequences. Since I was able to help her almost immediately, the likelihood of side effects is relatively low."

"Side effects?" Shikamaru asked, "Like what?"

"Well… for example, she could've lost her vision entirely." Koharu said, "That's what happened to me. The reason why I was born blind is because my mother was attacked on the night I was born, and by the time I was pulled from her womb, I had already gone into ventricular fibrillation. At that time, the Fourth Hokage saved me using a similar method to what I just used. To be honest, it was a somewhat desperate move. The slightest error in judgment could've sealed my fate. Frankly speaking, if it had been anybody except for Lord Fourth, I probably would not be here right now. The jutsu that I just used is slightly more refined than what Lord Fourth did back then. Strictly speaking, he didn't use a jutsu, he only channeled lightning chakra from his body to mine, which required precise control and judgement on his behalf. My jutsu requires the same level of control, but takes the guess work out of things. All the same, it's considered an S-Rank jutsu. The only other person currently capable of performing it is Lady Tsunade." She sighed and pulled her hands away from Hinata again. "She's stable enough to be moved. I'd like to continue treating her somewhere more private. Being right here is holding up the exams." She glared over at the medics who were still standing by, "Let me make this clear; I am _not_ relinquishing her treatment to you. You will move her to another room for me to continue and then _get out of my way."_

"Y-Yes…" The two medics agreed as they rushed over to place Hinata on a stretcher so they could move her. As they did, Koharu turned her head, glaring daggers at Neji, her killing intent far surpassing what his had been earlier.

"If we weren't in the middle of these exams and I didn't have more pressing matters to attend to, I would be dealing with you here and now, Neji. Consider yourself lucky that I can't."

Naruto watched with horror as Hinata was carried out of the room with Koharu—and Sasuke, for some reason—following. "Hinata..." He said quietly. He knelt down and dipped his fingers in her blood that was on the ground before turning around and holding his dripping fist out at Neji in what was obviously a silent challenge. "I swear I'll win!" He proclaimed.

* * *

Yeah, okay, because I didn't want to have to basically copy yet another battle from the manga/anime, I kind of skipped over Hinata and Neji's battle to show a little bit of Koharu's past instead. The matter of being babysat by Team 2 when she, Naruto, and Sasuke were really little is something that Koharu had forgotten about up until this point due to infantile amnesia. The side-effects of the Kotaro caused them to surface. Also, I realize that obviously Koharu wouldn't be able to remember stuff that she was either not there for or passed out during, but hey, Itachi's genjutsu to share his memories with Sasuke somehow included things that happened when he (Itachi) wasn't present, so what the heck?

Also, as much as she hates Neji right now (her killing intent is starting to concern the Jonin), Koharu actually would prefer for Naruto to pummel him, because she knows that nobody will benefit from her clobbering Neji, since she is also a prodigy, but also knows that it would be a different story if her brother, "the failure", were to pulverize him instead.


	21. The Girl with Cursed Eyes

Anko opened the door to where Koharu was treating Hinata, Karin standing at her side. "I've brought her."

"Thank you, Anko-sensei." Koharu said from where she was still using the Heavenly Palm on Hinata.

"What did you need me for, Koharu?" Karin asked as she walked forward.

"Karin-chan..." Koharu began hesitantly, "Hinata-chan has been critically injured... she's suffered serious damage to her internal organs. I hate to ask, but... would you be willing to give her some of your chakra? She doesn't have to bite you. I know of another way. But I won't do this without your permission."

Karin smiled softly and reached forward. Koharu stopped using her jutsu at this and Karin took her hands in her own. "Because we are similar, I know... that you wouldn't ask this if you weren't really worried about her. I don't mind helping your friend."

Koharu smiled and brushed the tears at the corners of her eyes away. "Thank you. I'll be sure to keep an eye on your chakra levels and make sure we don't end up using too much." Karin nodded in thanks and Koharu pulled a small bag out of her pouch, holding it out toward Anko. "Anko-sensei, this is an herbal tea for treating eye strain. Please prepare it while we treat her."

"Sure." Anko said, taking the bag and heading to the back of the room to boil the water.

Koharu bit her thumb to draw blood and wove a few signs. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" A slug about the size of Hinata's head appeared on the table and looked up at her.

"Oh...! Koharu-chan! This is rare! What is it you need?" The slug asked.

"Lady Katsuyu." Koharu greeted with a nod, "My friend Hinata-chan has suffered serious damage to her internal organs. The fastest and most effective way to treat her is to transfer some of my friend Karin-chan's unique chakra to her. However, Karin-chan doesn't know how to use the chakra transfer jutsu, so I need you to act as a medium. Spread out your clones to cover Hinata-chan's torso and position yourself on Karin-chan's shoulder."

"Understood." Katsuyu replied as she began to spread herself out over Hinata.

"This is Lady Katsuyu." Koharu explained to Karin as the other girl allowed the slug to climb up her arm, "She's specializes in assisting iryouninja. My godmother, Lady Tsunade, taught me how to summon her when I ran into her about six months ago."

"Godmother?!" Anko exclaimed.

"Long story." Koharu told her. "Lady Katsuyu will be able to transfer your chakra to Hinata-chan without hurting you." She explained to Karin.

"What do I need to do?" The redhead asked.

"Just concentrate on infusing chakra, and Lady Katsuyu will do the rest." Her friend replied. "Are we ready?" She asked Katsuyu.

"Yes." Katsuyu said with a nod.

"Then please begin. If Karin-chan's chakra reserves get to low, I'll tell you to stop."

Both Karin and Katsuyu nodded and Karin closed her eyes, forming a hand sigh as she infused chakra as instructed.

"I'm amazed that you're so focused when you seemed so ticked off back in the arena." Sasuke remarked to Koharu.

"'A shinobi must never allow personal feelings to interfere with the mission.'" The blue-haired girl recited. "As a medic, my main priority is the preservation of lives. If I allow my emotions to interfere with that duty, then I've failed as both a medic and a ninja. In moments like this, I have to squash down whatever I'm feeling and focus on the task at hand. There will be time for me to be angry later, when there isn't a life on the line."

"Hn." Sasuke replied in acknowledgement, "By the way, didn't I tell you before not to say that your eyes are cursed?"

Koharu's expression was unreadable. "I didn't think you remembered that..." She abruptly stood up. "Anko-sensei, is the room next door unoccupied?"

"Huh? Yeah, why?" Anko asked.

"I need to talk to Sasuke in private." She answered, suddenly reappearing beside the boy. "I'll keep monitoring both Hinata-chan and Karin-chan from there." She allowed Sasuke to lead her to the next room over and placed a sound-proofing seal upon it before turning to him. "Now, you were saying?"

"I told you before." Sasuke reiterated. "After Shisui-san died. You were insisting that it was your fault. That you had been born with cursed eyes and that that curse had killed him. I told you back then not to say that, that the people who came up with that were just jealous of your abilities, didn't I?"

"You did." Koharu admitted, "Although _scared_ would be a more accurate description. People feared my powers. They still do. At that time... your kind words comforted me, but... after the death of my father, I couldn't help but think, once again, that I really had been born with some kind of curse." She sighed as she sat down. "But there's more to what I said today than just that. The reason why Neji hates Hinata-chan goes back to an incident that occurred when we were all little kids. An incident that I was also involved in. I know it wasn't really either of our faults, but... I've always felt that if he was going to blame anyone, he ought to blame me instead of her."

"You were trying to get him to shift his anger from her to you." Sasuke realized, "Because you knew what he'd try to do."

Koharu nodded. "I didn't have a chance to say this before, but... thank you Sasuke, for using the senbon that I gave to you. I was starting to lose rationality. If you hadn't knocked me out, I might've said something very dangerous. It also would've been very hard for me to endure watching that fight, able to see what was happening to Hinata-chan's body. I'm glad I came to in time to treat her, but I _really _needed that reset. I didn't say this earlier, because it was off-subject at the time, but... nobody is capable of not feeling anything. Some people can suppress their emotions, almost to the point that they are no longer aware of them. Perhaps it's because of the Shinjitsugan, but... I'm not really able to do that. I can conceal my emotions to a point, but I eventually need indulge in some form of release in order to avoid a mistake. For a genin on a D-Rank mission, I guess that's not a big deal. That's what D-Rank missions are for, right? But the truth is, I've never been on a D-rank mission before."

"What exactly did you and Itachi do after leaving the village anyway?" Sasuke asked.

"Even nukanin have to make a living." She told him, "Your brother became a mercenary to fill that need. I traveled with him because I had no place else to go. As a medic, I was useful to him, but I could easily become a liability unless I was able to defend myself, so he had to give me _some_ training when he had time. Mostly just sparring, actually. With my ability to copy things in the same manner as the Sharingan, and the fact that I could be up to a kilometer away and still watch him in action, picking up new techniques and then trying them on my own was easy, so most of my training was still focused on medical knowledge, something that was left to my grandfather on the rare occasions that I saw him."

"Your grandfather?" Sasuke asked with a raised brow.

"My grandparents live in Yugakure. However, staying with them wasn't an option. My enemies would know to look for me there." The Mayonaka girl explained. "And Yugakure is neutral. They won't do anything about rogue shinobi from other villages. Heck, they won't even do something about rogues from _their_ _own_ village. It's pathetic. My grandparents would've gained nothing from trying to report your brother, especially since they knew that he was my best chance at survival." She shook her head, "But that's beside the point. Where I was originally going with this was that by the time the Hidden Rain took me in, I was far too capable to be sent on D-Ranks. Especially because of the time I'd spent amongst rogue ninja, I was already too aware of what mistakes I couldn't afford to make during missions. It's true that I've never taken an active role in the majority of the high-level missions that I have been on, but that's because the village primarily relies on my talents as a scout and medic. Fuushin-niichan and Chino-neechan are the combatants, not me."

"You could've fooled me from the way you fought earlier." Sasuke told her.

"Heh. I had the advantage of being familiar with my opponent and I'm comfortable with attacking from any range." She said, "I didn't have a chance to show it while fighting Kabuto, but I'm actually quite skilled at Juuken myself."

"Yeah, I remember you beating Neji when we were kids." Sasuke admitted, "Why didn't you use it against Kabuto though?"

"As powerful as Juuken is, its not always the best approach." She told him, "Kabuto might seem harmless, but he's actually extraordinarily dangerous in close combat. Far more than Yoroi." She shrugged, "Being able to attack opponents from any range is a valuable skill. It enables you to adapt to any situation." She turned her head toward the room beside them, "We should go back. Hinata-chan has almost recovered fully."

"Why do you do that?" He asked, "Turning your head towards where your attention is."

"It's a means to try and conceal my blindness. It freaks people out a little less this way." She replied as Sasuke led her back to the other room. "Karin-chan, you can stop now. Hinata-chan's chakra flow is at should be now. Anko-sensei, is the tea ready?"

"Yeah." Anko said, bringing the cup over to Hinata as she sat up.

"Hinata-chan, drink this. It will help with the strain placed on your eyes during that fight." Koharu instructed.

"She needs that even after receiving my chakra?" Karin asked.

"There are some things which iryouninjutsu and regenerative chakra can't correct on their own." The Mayonaka girl explained before holding out her arm to Katsuyu. "Lady Katsuyu, please accompany me. It seems I needed elsewhere. Sasuke, please lead me back to the arena, quickly!" Sasuke nodded and led the girl by the hand to the arena, opening the door for her when he sensed her urgency. "Get out of my way!" She yelled at the ninja from the medical corps as she rushed over to Lee, who was on a stretcher. "This is really bad..." She muttered, "I have no choice. Lady Katsuyu, please get in touch with Lady Tsunade. I need to consult with her."

"Oh dear. Right away, Koharu-chan."

"Who the heck just casually calls up the world's greatest iryouninja via a summons?" Tenten murmured.

"Let her know that I'm at the Chuunin Exams in Konoha and that one of the examinees has been critically injured." Koharu began, ignoring Tenten's comment, "In addition to a broken arm and leg and damage throughout his muscular system, there are multiple fractured vertebrae in his spine. I can treat the damage to his limbs, but the damage to his spinal cord is another thing entirely. I'm not convinced I can treat it, and I am uncertain if regenerative chakra would be of any benefit in this scenario."

"Yes..." A moment passed as Katsuyu relayed this information to Tsunade. "Lady Tsunade says to not even try it. That's an injury that even she would find difficult to treat. It's beyond your current abilities, Koharu-chan. Go ahead and treat what you can to minimize his discomfort, but don't attempt to approach that injury yourself."

"Right." Koharu said with a nod, her face solemn, "Please thank her for me. Also, if you would, please spread your clones out over his body so that I can at least treat the damage to everything except his spine."

"You'll need to summon another of my clones for that." Katsuyu told her. "You only summoned a large enough part of me to cover Hinata-chan's torso."

"Oh, you're right." She bit her thumb and performed the Summoning Jutsu again before eating yet another food pill.

"How is he?" Guy asked when she had begun the process of treating Lee.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it. There's a chance he won't be able to continue as a shinobi. I'm not saying it's impossible, but... at the very least, it won't be possible without treatment from an iryouninja more skilled than I am, of which there are few." Koharu said grimly, "After all, from what I gathered, the members of the medical corps can't even treat his arm and leg, and I can at least do that. However, I'm not going to berate you for letting him use that jutsu. Under ordinary circumstances, I would, but that battle was anything but ordinary."

"How can you tell when you weren't even in here?" Temari asked.

"I'm not really obliged to answer that." Koharu said bluntly before sighing with resignation.

"It can't... it can't really be that bad... Can it, Neechan?" Naruto asked with a tremor in his voice.

"I'm afraid it can..." Koharu said sadly, "I'm sure this sounds arrogant, but... iryouninja of my level are a rarity..."

"Bushy Brows..." Naruto said quietly.

Her attention drifted toward Sasuke and she suddenly said, "This isn't purely the result of Gaara's power, although that did play a part in it, Sasuke." She told him, "Since you weren't here, I'll explain. Lee-san used a technique known as the Eight Gates, whereby he enhanced his physical abilities by turning off some of his body's normal limiters, meant to prevent one from going past the limits of what their body can handle. Ordinarily, this is considered a kinjutsu due to the amount of harm it inflicts upon the user. However, because the Eight Gates can turn even an unskilled genin into a deadly opponent, there are times when it may be worth it."

"Turn an unskilled genin into a deadly opponent? What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"During the Third War, a three-man cell of Konoha Genin had the misfortune of crossing paths with the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Hidden Mist." The young medic began, "However, one of the genin's father came to their aid. The shinobi in question was, himself, only a genin, even though he'd been fully grown for some time. He was considered talentless. However, by using the Eight Gates, he was able to kill four of the Seven Swordsman, although he himself also died, as a result of opening the eighth gate. Nonetheless, he dealt a significant blow to the Hidden Mist, and his son is now a skilled jonin. That genin's name was Might Dai. He was the father of Guy-sensei."

"...How did you find out about that?" Guy asked.

"I've heard many stories of the history of the shinobi world in the time since my father's death." Koharu told him, "That particular story stands out in my mind because it was the very first. I heard about it from one of the survivors of the battle. That man also taught me something else that was very important..." At this, she seemed to direct a glare at Neji, "Never take any opponent for granted." She turned her head back towards Lee, "In these proctored battles, the risk of death is significantly reduced, but in the real world, making that mistake could cost you your life."

"Actually, it's not just Guy." Kakashi told her, "The other two members of that cell are now Special Jonin."

"Oh? That's interesting to know." Koharu said, "I was never told who the other two were. At any rate, it's better to survive a battle with injuries than to die. That's why I won't berate either you or Lee-san for his using that jutsu." She told Guy. With a nod to Katsuyu, she stopped infusing her chakra and instead pulled out cup, pouring a small packet of powder into it. "Does anyone have any drinking water?" At that, Tenten came forward and filled the cup, and Koharu held up a small utensil. "Use this to dissolve the powder." Tenten nodded and did as Koharu said, before helping Koharu to administer the mixture to Lee. "I've done what I can for him, but he's still in a lot of pain. That's why I'm administering this sedative."

"That's not the same stuff you gave to Sasuke-kun the other day, is it?" Sakura asked with worry.

"Not exactly. It's similar, but it doesn't have any side-effects unless it's used long-term." Koharu told her, "His body can't take any more stress right now, and frankly, I've reached my limit anyway."

"Why push yourself to such extremes for people who aren't even from your village?" Orochimaru, who'd been disguised as a Hidden Sound Jounin the entire time, asked her.

She glared in his direction, "As a medic, my primary concern is the preservation of lives. Therefore, I have an obligation to provide medical care to anybody who is not expressly my enemy." She turned her head toward Guy, "Don't blame yourself. There are very few in this room who could've made it as far as he did, myself included. He didn't know Gaara's abilities going in, so running away would've been unbefitting of a Shinobi. To remain true to his nindou, no matter the risk... I think that was more important. If you can't remain true to yourself, what do you have left?"

"That can't be... that can't be true!" Naruto said to her, "After hearing that, what should Bushy Brows do? He said the failure would take down a genius with effort, and yet... Isn't there something that can be done?!"

Suddenly Kakashi appeared and covered Naruto's mouth to silence him. "Be quiet, Naruto!"

Naruto pulled the Jounin's hand away, "But... But Kakashi-sensei! He kept saying that he wanted to battle Sasuke and Neji!"

"Perhaps... that led to his ruin." Kakashi lamented. "To fulfill that dream... that boy even used a self-sacrificing kinjutsu to try to win! The result is what you see."

"You're wrong, Kakashi-sensei..." Koharu said quietly, "If he hadn't used that technique, he would most likely be dead right now."

Kakashi nodded and continued speaking to Naruto, "That boy... Sasuke and Neji... and you... he sacrificed himself to a promise he never spoke of. He risked his life... so that he might have a chance to battle you guys..." He placed a hand on his student's head, "Don't forget that.

"I'm sorry... Naruto..." Naruto looked at his sister and saw tears dripping down her face. "I wish I could do more... People have always called me a prodigy, but... despite that... I'm never able to achieve what I desire most! These cursed eyes that see what other people can't... and yet can't see what everyone else can... are useful only for saving myself!" She turned and ran out the door, somehow managing to avoid running into the wall and heading down the hall.

"Neechan..." Naruto said.

"Why would she think that her eyes are cursed?" Sakura asked of nobody in particular.

"She said this earlier, but... the night that she was born, her mother died. Her blindness is a result of that traumatic birth." Sasukr answered, staring after Koharu. "Her only means of seeing things is the visual prowess inherent to her clan. But people feared that power, so they told her that she was cursed. A child who is capable of protecting herself and nobody else."

"How do you know about that?" Naruto asked.

"She told me about it when we were kids, just after a mutual friend of ours died." Sasuke explained. "I told her not to say that about herself, but I guess that feeling is something that she can't easily escape."

ç—…

Koharu sat in the middle of the hallway somewhere, her head buried in her knees as she sobbed.

"Are you okay?" Chino asked, having quietly followed her.

Koharu sniffled. "It's not good to talk in the hallway like this. Show me the nearest room." Chino nodded and led her to a nearby room, watching as Koharu placed her seal on the door and waited for her to speak after they had both sat down. "...No matter how much I wish... I'm never able to save anyone..." She said softly, "I couldn't save my father or the Uchiha Clan... I wasn't even able to reach my brother and Sasuke in time to save them from harm."

"You can't blame yourself for these things." Chino said, "You're only thirteen. You were only eight when your father died. Nobody would expect you to stop all of that. I'm sure that even that shishou of yours has had times when he felt powerless."

"Heh. It's funny you should mention that." Koharu said. "Just like I was eight when my father died, Sensei was eight-years-old when he awakened his Sharingan. A comrade was killed right in front of him, and he hadn't been able to do a thing to stop it." She hugged her knees to her chest, "Apparently, the man behind my father's death told Sensei on the day that he graduated from the Academy that the lines on his face were a sign that chaos would surround him all his life. So when I first expressed my fear that I would someday lose him as well, he told me, 'Don't worry about that. Even if your eyes are cursed, it won't hurt me, because I have a curse of my own." She smiled wryly at the thought. "In that moment, I felt that I'd found someone with whom I could share my pain, and I vowed that I would do everything I could to save him... even if he doesn't want to be saved. Because... no matter what he may think of himself... there are still people in this world who treasure him and don't want to lose him."

"And there are also people in this world who treasure you, Koharu-chan." Chino assured her. "Your teacher, your brother, Sasuke-chan and Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan, Ino-chan, Lady Angel... None of them see you as a person who carries a curse, but as someone worth treasuring. The same goes for Fuushin and I." She smiled softly, "And besides, you're wrong. Because you and those eyes have done a _lot _for the people you care about. Not only do you look after that teacher of yours, but you took care of Sasuke-chan when he was sick and undid whatever that Orochimaru guy did to him and Naruto-chan. You provided both Hinata-chan and Lee-chan with better care than any of the Konoha doctors could've. And if it weren't for your eyes, you wouldn't have been able to use Juuken to correct Hinata-chan's chakra network, nor would you have known that Lee-chan was critically injured. You even tracked down that Karin girl in seconds so that she could come help! So don't think that your eyes are only able to protect you, because they're part of who you are."

* * *

Finally got around to finishing this chapter. I kind of decided to just skip over the rest of the fights for the sake of time and also because itâs really annoying when I have to copy stuff. So this is more or less the end of the preliminaries, but there will be some stuff in between this and the third round.


End file.
